Thing 12: Wikis

I have been using a wiki with my English Honors II classes for two years now. I post vocabulary words with definitions and students insert a graphic and write another sentence to go with the graphic. I developed this idea after I learned from another teacher that she had students create posters with a graphic for their vocabulary words and then present to the class. I think having a visual created for the vocabulary words helps students remember the word. We review the vocabulary wiki pages before the day of the vocabulary test and it seems to help students remember the meanings of their vocabulary words. You can view our wiki at http://lewismct.wikispaces.com/ Scroll down and click on Vocabulary 1-6, or Vocabulary 7. Since a wiki is so easy to use, I have begun posting other assignments and a calendar for my students.
I know there are many more applications for wikis in education and would like to extend my use of wikis in my classes. One idea is for students to complete research on topics such as literary periods or authors and have students submit information for the wiki so that they combine their knowledge on a literary subject.