Kevin+Hodgson

The wiki format allows students to go in, add their words and definitions, and as they are adding content, they are also learning about what a wiki is and what it means to be a responsible member of a writing community. I also call upon a few students to act as "editors" for misspelled words and syntax. Last year, we added a podcasting element to the wiki site, in which students read their definitions, and then we attached the file to the words on the wiki site. We then shared our Collaborative Dictionary with members of our school community and others through a school blog and newsletters. Since a wiki is designed for growth and collaborative writing, it seems as if it is the perfect tool for a dictionary that will be forever growing and changing in the hands of 11 and 12 year olds who come to see language as something that is alive and not dead on the paper page.
 * __Name__:** ben gibson
 * __Website__:** The Crazy Collaborative Dictionary Project http://dogwritingideas.wikispaces.com/Crazy+Dictionary
 * __Educational Institution__:** William E. Norris Elementary School and the Western Massachusetts Writing Project
 * __Teaching Environment__:** Sixth grade
 * __Web 2.0 Focus__:** Wiki Collaborative Writing
 * __Description__:** As part of the study of the origins of the English language by my sixth graders, we read passages from the book, Frindle by Andrew Clements, in which a student decides to invent a new word and it becomes part of the dictionary. The book prompts many discussions about how words actually do get into the dictionary and become part of our language. My students then invent their own words, come up with definitions (often silly but still appropriate) and then they must work their words -- and words of fellow students -- into a short story. At first, we used to just write the words on chart paper and hang it up in the classroom, and even months later, students would still be reading the words and a few would continue to slip into their work. Two years ago, I decided that a wiki might be an appropriate online tool for sharing some of their invented words, and so our Crazy Collaborative Dictionary was launched through Wikispaces. The site now includes more than 200 invented words from three years of students.
 * __Teaching and Learning__:** What I liked about using a wiki for this particular project is that the invented word dictionary does not have to die after each year. Instead, we can keep adding words and features to the dictionary as each sixth grade class makes its way through my writing curriculum, and they can look to the past for examples.
 * __Preferred Applications__:** Wikispaces
 * __Mentor(s) and Hero(es)__:** He doesn't know it, but Will Richardson's book about blogs, wikis, etc, in the classroom really helped me see the possibilities for online activities that support the curriculum in the classroom.
 * __Favorite Web 2.0 Applications Right Now__:** social networking spaces, concept mapping software, and collaborative video sites