FYI, the September issue of The Atlantic has a lengthy article on Wikipedia.
Christine Gray
_____
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Crow
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 4:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Vehicle for Moving Forward
Gretchen,
You inspired me to check out wikis and you are, in my opinion, absolutely
right: it is an ideal environment for the types of discussions that Scope &
Sequence will need to undertake. I set up a wiki for this fall's classes.
Not sure yet what we will do with it, but the technology is promising.
Thank you for taking the time to explain how they work and for turning me on
to WikiSpaces.com--a great site, very well supported, and absolutely free
for basic services--certainly enough for me and my classes and for ATEG (or
NPG) collaborative efforts.
John
On 8/5/06, Gretchen Lee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi,
I've just finished putting together a Wiki for my students for this fall to
use with vocabulary. As I was putting it together, it stuck me that it
would be perfect for this group to work on grammar scope(s) and sequence(s)
collaboratively.
Just in case you don't know what a wiki is, I'll explain. Wiki are online
spaces where groups of people can edit, link, and upload content on any page
in the space. They can be public (anyone can view and edit), protected
(anyone can view, members can edit), or private (only members can edit and
view).
Wikipedia is the most famous, but wikis are everywhere. I have one set up
for a vocabulary unit. Each page has a sentence from our literature book
that uses the vocab word. The students have to add content to each page and
make a certain number of edits (I can track the edits backdoor so no one can
abuse the system.) They find examples and explain usage, find pictures that
illustrate, connect the word to their lives, books, movies, etc. There is a
discussion tab on each page to ask questions, make comments, etc.
There are numerous examples on the web of wikis that students and/or
teachers have made to replace textbooks. Here's an interesting article that
discusses
wikis:(http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/08/04/a_new_h
igh_tech_take_on_school_group_project/ ).
Why not start an ATEG grammar wiki? When we were done, we would
collaboratively have put together something useful for teachers and students
alike. I envision a splash page with links to different philosophical
starting points. From there you can add pages, link to others, upload
diagrams, etc.
I have no idea what the finished project would look like, but wouldn't it be
fun to see if the group of dedicated people could at least get something on
"paper" to look at? You want parts of speech? Start a wiki section that
uses parts of speech. You prefer word classes? Get together with the people
who want word classes and get going!
It just seems like we are always arguing. I don't get to the conferences
(I'm limited to one a year, and I have to go to NCTE), so from the
sidelines, it's a bit frustrating so hear all the arguments, and see none of
the collaboration. Here's a way to get everyone involved. And we could get
lots of non-ATEG colleagues involved. Maybe that would help with ATEG
numbers.
I use the free Wikispaces at www.wikispaces.com. The only real problems I
have are that there's no spell check and that when large numbers of edits
are being made at the same time, it's possible overwrite each other.
Any thoughts?
~Gretchen
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