Have you ever heard of Simple Wikipedia?It's like regular Wikipedia; it's just easier to read. It's great for our 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 we know for sure our students do, too (even though we teachers poo-poo it as a source). Yet few of us have ever edited a Wikipedia page, added content on an area of our own expertise, and shared it with the world. The same goes for our students.
What a great way to teach them 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 your students add to one entry, you've got the link to that entry to share with parents, peers, admins, and the world. If each student edits a different page, you can combine those pages in a downloadable ebook and share that!
If you are interested in using Simple Wikipedia with any of your classes here in the library/ computer lab, please checkour calendarandemail Ms. Kovalto schedule the time.
