Wikis+and+Blogs

Language Arts Fifth Grade Competency Goal 4 The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts. 4.10 Use technology as a tool to gather, organize, and present information.

Uses Wikis have three (3) general uses - reports/projects, classroom and school use.

Wikis and blogs provide a forum for group and cooperative learning and organizing information. Teachers can create wikis to provide students with background information and to activate prior knowledge. Discussion forums foster dialogue and develop writing skills. Both allow for experimenting with online publishing.

A distinct advantage of wikis are that they are free and very easy to create and maintain.

PBworks. [] The basic education wiki is free. Wikispaces. www.wikispaces.com

Examples: Interactive Notebooks http://interactive-notebooks.wikispaces.com/

References:

 Morgan, B., & Smith, R. D. (2008). A Wiki for Classroom Writing. //Reading Teacher//, 62(1), 80-82. Retrieved from EBSCO//host//.

Teaching writing by creating a website: An interview with Jennifer Stone. (2009). Accessed on June 13, 2011 from <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 20px;"> @http://www.thewritingteacher.org/writing-blog-home/2009/1/6/teaching-writing-by-creating-a-website.html