For Teachers

Overview

This Carbon Fighters wiki was created as a part of an ongoing unit about problem-solution essays completed in the language arts classroom of a North Carolina middle school.  The topic of alternative energies was chosen specifically because of the natural connections between the social studies curriculum----where students study how the distribution of natural resources can affect a country's wealth and standard of living----and the science curriculum---where students study topics ranging from energy to the carbon cycle. 

Finally, this topic was particularly important for North Carolina middle grades students because of the rapid rate of growth in our state.  As one of the fastest growing locations in America, great demand is being placed on our energy supplies.  The community is constantly wrestling with the best ways to provide power for new residents and businesses.  Alternative sources such as biofuels and wind energy are under active consideration as new carbon-fired coal power plants are built. 

Assignment Description

To meet the requirements of our state curriculum, every student created an individual problem solution essay crafted on paper and turned in as a sample for their personal writing folders.  Students also joined groups of five.  Each group of five was responsible for creating a page for this wiki that included one essay. To divide the workload up logically, each group member was responsible for adding one paragraph to their collective essay and for filling one of the five group roles described on the Project Directions page of this wiki.

Students worked on their personal essays and wiki page at the same time, allowing group members to support one another throughout the drafting and editing process.  Completing this entire project took approximately two weeks, with two days being spent in the computer lab to allow students to add to their collective wiki pages during class time.  Students also worked on their wiki pages from home or on one of the three computers available to students in the classroom.

Students earned individual grades for their personal essays and one group grade for the collective essay/wiki page.  The rubric used to score wiki pages did, however, allow for individual grading of group contributions when necessary.  This ensured that proper assessments could be done when individual students failed to complete tasks assigned by their groups. 

Why Wikis?

One of the greatest challenges that middle grades language arts teachers face is encouraging students to invest time into revising and editing content that they create.  Students who have grown up in the "instant generation" often lack the mental persistence necessary to work through a careful review of text.  Furthermore, they struggle to "see" the kinds of changes that may actually improve a paper. 

Wikis make the process of revision and editing transparent to students.  By working together in groups on shared essays, students can literally "watch" as their work changes from revision to revision.  This opportunity for collective writing is invaluable---exposing students to new language and interesting sentence structures that they may never have considered on their own.  What's more, students can review the corrections that have been made to their own writing, getting individual feedback on the kinds of mistakes common in their own work. 

Wikis also provide group members with opportunities for constant conversations about writing.  Together, students must polish and edit sentences and paragraphs.  Together, they must evaluate the quality of their arguments and the overall layout of their pages.  While these kinds of conversations would be possible around paper and pencil projects, wiki pages make this process easy because collaboration can happen asynchronously.  Students can revise and edit---and engage in conversations on a digital discussion board---from any location at any time. 

The traditional collaborative barriers of time and place are removed when wikis are used as a vehicle for group projects.

Lessons Learned

Throughout the course of this project, several important lessons were learned about using wikis in classroom instruction.  They include:

Audience matters:  Students worked harder on drafting, revising and editing throughout the course of this project than on any other writing project completed during this school year.  Knowing that an outside audience was going to be able to access this wiki and review the essays created here provided a sense of motivation that is often missing from traditional assignments seen by teachers and students only.

What was particularly motivating to students was the idea that digital tools could be used to put outside pressure on the Governor's office.  Students felt empowered by the idea that they could drive change---something that preteens are naturally drawn to---by raising their electronic voices together. 

Roles are necessary:  While opportunities for students to direct their own learning are one of the primary advantages of using digital tools in the classroom,  middle grades students still need structure when working collaboratively primarily because they haven't yet developed the skills necessary for planning projects.  To ensure that wiki projects are successful in the middle grades classroom, teachers should consider creating clear roles for students to complete as members of shared work groups. 

By doing so, teachers help to focus the work of individual students.  They also bring transparency to the kinds of tasks that collaborative groups must complete when working together on shared assignments.  Middle schoolers---who struggle with long-term planning and consistency---simply need this structure before they can successfully complete collaborative tasks together.  

Literacy through linking:  One of the lessons that students of the 21st Century must learn is that the credibility of a website can often be determined by the links to external content included by page creators.  Because websites can be created easily by anyone, there is no guarantee that information found online is accurate.  Therefore, pages with few links simply can't be trusted.  

The importance of links as a source for validation can be emphasized in group wiki projects.  Teachers can encourage students to find links to external content that supports their core assertions---and can work with students to determine the characteristics of websites worth trusting.  Linking in the course of wiki creation provides countless opportunities to talk about the reliabilty of online sources---a new literacy often overlooked in traditional classrooms.  

Teaching discussion board language:  Perhaps the most appealing aspect of wiki projects to middle grades students--who are driven by opportunities to interact---are the discussion boards provided on each page.  Students regularly engage in conversation with one another on these pages while working on shared assignments.  Unfortunately, middle grades students also struggle to remember that conversations around schoolwork must take on a different tone than the informal electronic conversations with friends that they have embraced beyond school.  

Teachers should model proper discussion board language and interactions for students working on wiki projects.  By spotlighting productive interactions and highlighting the difference between language used between colleagues and language used between friends, teachers can help students to develop responsible patterns for professional dialogue in digital forums---a skill that will become increasingly important in a future where electronic collaboration will be far more common than it is today.    

Students can be timid about revising the work of others: Interestingly enough, students who are just starting to use wikis for collaborative projects are often hesitant to revise the work of their peers.  Having spent the majority of their school careers producing writing that few people actually edit, my students were cautious at best when making changes to the contributions of their classmates. 

To address this temerity, teachers must constantly model the revising and editing process in class.  Working together through shared revisions will help to build safety between classmates.  The sense that a wiki page is the responsibility of an entire group of students must be built over time.  Constantly emphasizing that errors---in content or mechanics---are not the "fault" of any one member will eventually encourage students to open up to the kinds of collective writing that wikis make possible. 

Teachers should not, however, be surprised by the initial resistance that some students may demonstrate towards revising the work of peers----or towards having their work revised by peers.