Have you ever heard of Simple Wikipedia? It's like regular Wikipedia; it's just easier to read. It's great for ELs and for most students since many Wikipedia entries on technical and academic topics are written at reading levels over their heads.
Most of us will admit that we regularly use Wikipedia, and teachers know for sure students do, too (even though we poo-poo it to them as a source). Yet few of us have ever edited a Wikipedia page, contributed content on an area of our own expertise, and shared it with the world. The same holds true for our students.
What a great way to teach so many things -- accuracy, authority, audience, and the powerful feeling of being a published author -- to have students contribute content to a real live Wikipedia page about something they're learning in your class or about something they already know.
If all of multiple people add to one entry, you've got the link to that entry to share with the world. If you edit multiple pages, you can combine those pages in a downloadable ebook and share that!
Here's a link to the book creator:
http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=book_creator&referer=Main+Page
And here's a link to an example ebook:
http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=download&collection_id=51c7cb56b5f77be4&writer=rl&return_to=Special:Book
If you are interested in using Simple Wikipedia here in the library/computer lab, please check our calendar and email Ms. Koval to schedule the time. :)
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