At first, I was intimidated by the wiki activity, but in the end I really liked it. I especially liked that it allows students to collaborate and work together without having to be together. I can see many classroom advantages to that.
As Lyn also said, the color coding was a great help. I have developed a color coding system for my classes that works well. It is a "survival" tool for me!
In using the wikispace, I found it easy to put in a link and to change text color. I especially like the widget that allows you to insert special characters. This would make it easy for my Spanish students to type words with accents. I also experimented with the Table of Contents widget. It took some "trial and error", but it's a great tool for organizing a wiki page.
I must be honest and say that there were some challenges for me in using the wikispace. Mostly, I like to get a jump on my assignments and get my work done early. I found myself waiting for others to post their rankings and thoughts, then not wanting to seem like I was "pushing" anyone. I haven't ever met any of you, so maybe that's why I was afraid of offending anyone or coming across as trying to be in charge. Hopefully, others gained from the sharing experience as I did and it was just that.
I also wondered, as I am always thinking about how middle schoolers would be thinking, if students might be influenced by thoughts already posted when they submit theirs. For example, I did my rankings first, then wondered if others did theirs before looking at mine, or if they viewed the chart while entering theirs. Maybe it really doesn't matter, as we all viewed all the rankings in order to come to consensus.
As Lyn also said, the color coding was a great help. I have developed a color coding system for my classes that works well. It is a "survival" tool for me!
In using the wikispace, I found it easy to put in a link and to change text color. I especially like the widget that allows you to insert special characters. This would make it easy for my Spanish students to type words with accents. I also experimented with the Table of Contents widget. It took some "trial and error", but it's a great tool for organizing a wiki page.
I must be honest and say that there were some challenges for me in using the wikispace. Mostly, I like to get a jump on my assignments and get my work done early. I found myself waiting for others to post their rankings and thoughts, then not wanting to seem like I was "pushing" anyone. I haven't ever met any of you, so maybe that's why I was afraid of offending anyone or coming across as trying to be in charge. Hopefully, others gained from the sharing experience as I did and it was just that.
I also wondered, as I am always thinking about how middle schoolers would be thinking, if students might be influenced by thoughts already posted when they submit theirs. For example, I did my rankings first, then wondered if others did theirs before looking at mine, or if they viewed the chart while entering theirs. Maybe it really doesn't matter, as we all viewed all the rankings in order to come to consensus.