PD+11-25-08

Introduction: Watch [|Bombay video].

If you haven't gotten started yet, check out the [|wikispaces tour].
First, think about your purpose. Why are you creating a wiki? Who is your audience? Examples:
 * Team Collaboration - Have students work together on a page. They do research and add it to the page. Or, begin a story. Let students add to it.
 * Show Off What You Know - Set up an ABC book, word wall, or dictionary. Keep up with vocabulary words through the year. Display artwork and other student work.
 * Links Collection - Not comfortable letting kids just Google? Put the links you want them to visit on a page.
 * Kids Links Collection - Tell kids what you will be learning. Let them put links on a page they think are valuable. This will save you time! Then you and the students can add more as you go through the unit.
 * Online Newsletter - Have a different student each day or week write a paragraph detailing the events of your classroom.
 * Subject Specific - Create one just about a certain topic you are teaching. Later, you can link it to your main page. It may be easier to create a new page on your class wiki to do this.
 * Special Projects - Do you want to create a project that will extend beyond your classroom? I created one about a rock collection at school. I also created one as a technology tutorial. These do not have anything to do with my class wiki.
 * Class Website
 * Student Web Pages

What can I do to spice up my page? > [|Voki], [|WeeMee], [|Build Your Wild Self], [|Meez]
 * Links - Instead of pulling up the website you need directly, link it to your wiki. Students will be able to pull it up at home and look at it again. If you don't have time to do all the links, just let students know that they are there. They will go home and learn and practice even more.
 * Pictures - photographs and scanned artwork and pictures (try the Lexmark 2500/2600? scanner - cheap and easy for the kids to use)
 * Avatars - introduce yourself, give an assignment, use them as a student assignment
 * [|Feedjit] - Track how many visitors you have and where they are from
 * [|VoiceThread] - Upload pictures or student work. Students can then record their voices and talk about their work. I sometimes use it to just show pictures or work. It would be a really long page if I put all the pictures going straight down.
 * Widgets - weather forecasts, mini-Google searches, clocks, counters,...too many to list here -[|Easy Counter], [|Google Gadgets](some are inappropriate), [|Bravenet]
 * Movies or Slideshow of Pictures - [|BubbleShare], [|animoto], [|Bombay TV], [|One True Media],[|Photobucket], [|Slide]
 * Teacher or Student Created Movies - To put on the wiki, you need an embed code. [|Viddler], [|SchoolTube]
 * Comic Strips - [|Bitstrips,] [|Comiqs,] [|ToonDoo]
 * Interactive Maps - [|CommunityWalk]
 * Altered Pictures - [|Blabberize], [|Be Funky], [|Big Huge Labs] (lots of cute stuff: magazine covers, badgemakers, trading cards, billboards)
 * Handy Tools - [|The Hat], [|Timers]
 * Blogs - [|Edublogs], [|21 Classes], [|Class Blogmeister], [|Blogger]
 * Email Links - [|Gaggle], [|ePals]
 * Table of Contents - Just click "edit page" and type bracket, bracket, t, o, c, bracket, bracket (When I typed it out, wikispaces made a table of contents at the bottom of this page!)
 * Text Generators - [|Wordle], [|Cool Text], [|3D Text Maker], [|Glitterizer], [|Logo Maker], [|Spell with Flickr]
 * List upcoming events, reminders, announcements, fundraisers
 * Tags - list at the bottom of your page. When people search, they just might find you!
 * Games and Quizzes - Help them study for tests! [|Quizlet], [|games] like Jeopardy
 * Interactive Posters - [|Glogster]
 * Digital Artwork by Students - [|National Gallery of Art], [|Mr. Picassohead], [|Bomomo]
 * Countdown Tickers - [|Ticker Factory]
 * Broadcast Your Own Channel - [|Livestream]