So how do I use wikis with my class(es)?

Wiki ideas appropriate for most subjects and grade levels:

Study guides made by student groups for themselves and peers: each group
prepares the guide for one aspect of the unit or responsibility rotates: one unit
guide per semester.

Vocabulary lists and examples of the words in use, contributed by students

(ongoing throughout the year).

The wiki as the organizational and intellectual epicenter of your class (see
the Aristotle experiment)- Wiki all assignments, projects, collaboration, rubrics,
etc.

Products of research projects, especially collaborative group projects: civil war

battles, artistic movements, the American electoral process, diseases and
prevention, etc. Remember that the products do not have to be simply writing.
They can include computer files, images, videos, etc. Creating an organizational
structure for the content is an important part if the project.

An annotated collection of EXAMPLES from the non-school world for

anything: supply/demand, capitalism, entrepreneurship, triangles, alliterations,
vertebrates or invertebrates, etc. Include illustrations wherever possible.

What I Think Will Be on the Test wiki: a place to log review information for
important concepts throughout the year, prior to taking the high stakes test,
AP test, or final exam. Students add to it throughout the year and even from
year to year.

An everything I needed to know I learned in Ms.Teachernames class wiki where

students add their own observations of ways the class knowledge has spilled over
into the real world. For example, a student might write about actually using a
simple algebraic equation to figure out dimensions for cutting lumber or
foamcore for a display or write about ways that her friend shows tragic hubris and
is heading toward a fall.

A travelogue from a field trip or NON-field trip that the class would have liked
to take as a culmination of a unit of study: Our (non) trip to the Capital and
what we (wish) we saw.

Articles by students who miss school for family trips, written about their travels
on the class wiki, relating what they see to concepts learned before they left:
http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm

mammals I saw on the way to Disney, geometric shapes in the Magic Kingdom,
the most cost-effective lunches while traveling, etc. Remember: hotels usually
have Internet access. Make the world a part of your classroom!

An FAQ (or NSFAQ- Not So Frequently Asked Questions) wiki on your current
unit topic. Have students post KWL entries and continue adding questions that
occur to them as the unit progresses. As other students add their answers, the
wiki will evolve into a student-created guide to the topic. Example: Civil War
FAQ or Biomes FAQ. You may find that the FAQ process can entirely supplant
traditional classroom activities, especially if you seed a few questions as the
teacher. This would also depend on whether you have consistent computer access
on a daily basis, a luxury many schools do not have.

Wiki ideas for younger students (elementary):

An annotated virtual library: listings and commentary on independent reading

students have done throughout the year

Collaborative book reviews or author studies

An elementary class encyclopedia on a special topic, such as explorers or state

history to be continued and added to each year!

A virtual tour of your school as you study our community in elementary

grades

A travelogue from a field trip or NON- field trip that the class would have liked
to take as A culmination of a unit of study: Our (non) trip to the Capital and
what we (wish) we saw.

Detailed and illustrated descriptions of scientific or governmental processes: how

a bill becomes a law, how mountains form, etc.
A wiki fan club for you favorite author(s).

Family Twaditionwiki- elementary students share their familys ways of preparing

Thanksgiving dinner or celebrating birthdays (anonymously, of course) and
compare them to practices in other cultures they read and learn about.

A Where is Wanda wiki: a wiki version of the ever-favorite Flat Stanley project.
Have each Wanda host post on the wiki, including the picture they take with
Wanda during her visit. Even better: keep an ongoing Google Earth placemarker
file to add geographic visuals to Wandas wonderful wanderings as a link in the
wiki. WOW! Where in the world IS Wiki Wanda?

http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm

Wiki ideas for math:

A calculus wiki for those wicked-long problems so the class can collaborate on
how to solve them (a wicked wiki?)

A geometry wiki for students to share and rewrite proofs (a geometwiki?). What
a great way to see the different approaches to the same problem!

Applied math wiki: students write about and illustrate places where they actually
used math to solve a problem.

Procedures wiki: groups explain the steps to a mathematical procedure, such as

factoring a polynomial or converting a decimal to a fraction.

Pure numbers wiki: student illustrate numbers in as many ways possible: as

graphics to count, as mathematical expressions, etc. Elementary students can
show graphic illustrations of multiplication facts, for example.

Wiki ideas for science:

A student-made glossary of scientific terms with illustrations and definitions

added by the class (using original digital photos or those from other online
Creative Commons sources, such as Flickr). Linking to separate pages with
detailed information would allow the main glossary list to remain reasonably
short.

A taxonomy of living things with information about each branch as you study
Biology over a full year.

Designs of experiments (and resulting lab reports) for a chemistry class.

Observations from field sites, such as water-testing in local streams, weather

observations from across your state, or bird counts during migratory season.
Collaborate with other schools.

Detailed and illustrated descriptions of scientific processes: how mountains form,

etc.

A physics wiki for those wicked-long problems so the class can collaborate on
how to solve them (a wicked wiki?).

Wiki ideas for social studies:

A mock-debate between candidates, in wiki form (composed entirely based on

research students have done on the candidate positions).

A collaborative project with students in another location or all over the world: A
day in the life of an American/Japanese/French/Brazilian/Mexican family. (This
one would require finding contacts in other locations, of course).

A collection of propaganda examples during a propaganda unit.

http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm

Detailed and illustrated descriptions of governmental processes: how a bill

becomes a law, etc.

A fan club for your favorite president(s) or famous female(s).

A virtual tour of your school as you study our community in elementary

grades.

A local history wiki, documenting historical buildings, events, and people within
your community. Include interviews with those who can tell about events from
the World War II era or the day the mill burned down, etc. Allow adult
community members to add their input by signing up for membership in the
wiki. This project could continue on for years and actually be a service to the
community. Perhaps the area historical society would provide some assistance, if
you can get them to think beyond the closed stacks of their protected
collections!

A document-the-veterans wiki for those in your community who served in the

military. Interview them and photograph them, including both their accounts
and your students documentation and personal reflections on the interviews.

A travel brochure wiki: use wikis to advertise for different literary, historical, or
cultural locations and time periods: Dickens London, fourteenth century in Italy
in Verona and Mantua ( Romeo and Juliet), The Oklahoma Territory, The
Yukon during the Gold Rush, Ex-patriot Paris in the Twenties, etc.

http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm