Image Credit: La Giraudiere (click picture to go to site). About five years ago, I joined a Yahoo! Group for teachers of French who used a common textbook for upper-level classes. Through that group, I also found a linked group for teachers of AP French. Both groups were communities where teachers could share information, struggles, successes, and of course, resources. However, as the groups grew, our ability to share information became more limited. The group founders began looking for alternatives and settled upon Wikispaces. I was uncertain, but the materials that we had collected were all moving there, so I had no viable option. I created an account and joined TAP-FLC (Teachers of AP French Language & Culture). This new wiki had all of the benefits of our previous Yahoo! group, with the added benefit that we could organize the material more easily, and edit our documents together. It was a perfect fit!
Since then, I have joined two other wikis for this program, and visited a multitude of others. They have all been hosted by Wikispaces, which has made it easy to keep track of them. One of my favorites is LHS French Classes, which I discovered when I first had the idea to create a wiki for my classes at my new school in 2009. Unfortunately, when the domain name that I wanted was taken, I stopped. The teacher, Mme Theisin, has collected a trove of resources for all levels of French and sadly, I allowed her thoroughness to be my “excuse” for not creating my own site.
While researching educational Wikis for this module, I found two more that are inspirational to me. The first, English * Lizeowiki, combines my two content areas, as it is a wiki for French students learning English at all levels. Because they are learning English, many of the handouts posted are in both languages. While I have not yet contacted the teacher, I think that there could be a way to engage my AP French students with his students of English in collaboratively learning more about both languages and cultures.
The second wiki has started my creative juices flowing, trying to find a way to incorporate student projects on a wiki. The wiki is Lord of the Flies Essays and is home to a collection of essays by the students of one teacher. It caught my attention, as my classes are just finishing reading Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, and while we are wrapping up the unit, I am always looking for materials to add to my “collection.” Our next unit involved persuasion and we have discussed students producing persuasive Public Service Announcements, complete with annotated bibliographies. Wikis like this one could provide a good place for students to collaborate, post their final PSAs, and keep track of who did what and when.
Since then, I have joined two other wikis for this program, and visited a multitude of others. They have all been hosted by Wikispaces, which has made it easy to keep track of them. One of my favorites is LHS French Classes, which I discovered when I first had the idea to create a wiki for my classes at my new school in 2009. Unfortunately, when the domain name that I wanted was taken, I stopped. The teacher, Mme Theisin, has collected a trove of resources for all levels of French and sadly, I allowed her thoroughness to be my “excuse” for not creating my own site.
While researching educational Wikis for this module, I found two more that are inspirational to me. The first, English * Lizeowiki, combines my two content areas, as it is a wiki for French students learning English at all levels. Because they are learning English, many of the handouts posted are in both languages. While I have not yet contacted the teacher, I think that there could be a way to engage my AP French students with his students of English in collaboratively learning more about both languages and cultures.
The second wiki has started my creative juices flowing, trying to find a way to incorporate student projects on a wiki. The wiki is Lord of the Flies Essays and is home to a collection of essays by the students of one teacher. It caught my attention, as my classes are just finishing reading Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, and while we are wrapping up the unit, I am always looking for materials to add to my “collection.” Our next unit involved persuasion and we have discussed students producing persuasive Public Service Announcements, complete with annotated bibliographies. Wikis like this one could provide a good place for students to collaborate, post their final PSAs, and keep track of who did what and when.
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