Using Wikis to teach writing

I recently took part in a Facebook discussion where most of the contributors voiced their concerns over the state of their students' writing skills. 

I shared many of the concerns raised, which ranges from comments on grammar, vocab use to understanding punctuation and sentence structure.

Writing is an important part of life, and many students do not seem to realise this. They want to improve their speaking and listening so they concentrate on those skills and use writing as a means to learn how to speak. 

These students quickly realise how important writing is when they come to write as essay, email or even a report for work. Writing is not something that can be picked up in passing. It takes a long time to learn structure and proper usage. 

In order to help students I have been using Wikis to teach writing for over a year now. There are a number of advantages to using them in your class. 

- Organisation: Keep all the students written work in one easy to access place.

- Displaying information: Upload all the essay outlines to Scribd, then take the embed code and display them in one convenient place.

- Collaboration: The teacher can monitor each student's progress from introduction to conclusion and give feedback during the writing process. 

There are a number of ways to teach writing with Wikis, but I'll go over how to use them to teach writing essays. The same approach could be used for other forms, such as creative, emails, reports etc.

Wikis are all about collaboration. Blogs are great, but more adapted to one person using them to create a finished product. Google Drive is awesome also, but when there are lots of students in the class, Wikis are better equipped to deal with large numbers with more collaboration. 

I teach at a university, so my students have to produce three essays, as well as group work, in a pre-U course. They all hope to enter into a foundation, degree or masters course... if they pass!!!!

Scaffolding is the most important thing to start with. I'll use a pre-intermediate class with no Wiki experience to illustrate how to use Wikis to teach essay writing skills.

First, start with a simple writing activity. I usually ask the students to draw a picture of their best memory. They talk about it with the other class members, then for homework write the story into a simple paragraph. 

The next day I check the students written work and make the corrections. I then tell the students to write it again, but put it on their Wiki page. Each student has a private page for individual writing work.

Before the Wiki

The students have now had their work edited on paper, so they understand this process. They have also put their work on the Wiki, so they see how that works. Scaffolding stage one complete!

I tend to work more on paragraphs in the first few weeks. Each time I'll edit it and offer advice on grammar, word choice, punctuation etc. When they have grasped the basic outline of the paragraph we move onto a simple block essay. 

Many of the students can write, it's just they need the ideas to do so. As a class we think of essay ideas. I tell them "If you are interested in the topic, it is easy to write about it". After some general ideas, I put the students into writing groups. They will write the essay individually, but the group is their to motivate and support each member. In the groups they can talk about topics and write out a rough outline which the other members can help them with. 

Many of the students are new to essay writing, so I make sure I put a very clear essay outline on a separate Wiki page. I tell the students that this is copyright free, so you are free to take ideas and sentences. I especially focus their attention on topic, thesis statements and concluding sentences. I don't go into any detail, I just want them to be aware of them. 

Now we have started writing actual essays, I tell the students that I will edit it twice. In the first edit I usually check for grammar, word choice, punctuation, plus general coherence of the essay. In the second essay, I concentrate more on flow and structure of the essay. I also offer advice as how to improve the content by doing further research.

The same process is repeated for the next essay. Get the students into writing groups to help come up with content ideas and outlines. I still edit the essay twice and follow the same procedures as above. 

For the final essay, I tell the students that I will only edit it once and I will only edit a complete essay. Also, when I edit the essay, I will only underline sections that need to be reviewed or changed. My hope is that the students will be able to edit and find the mistakes in their writing by themselves as the class has been scaffolded to show them how to do it independently.

This is largely a process driven writing system. However, as the students are lower intermediate, elements of genre-based writing approaches have been implemented, such as clear essay outlines and sample essays to follow. I really think this is important. It is great to let the students write and find their own writing style, however, their experience with such writing is limited and as such they need examples to follow. 

An editing language was created for the Wiki and it is below. It is pretty straight forward and the students pick it up pretty quickly.

(go - del) = Delete the word 'go'.
(in / at) = Change the word 'in' for 'at'.
(to) = The word 'to' is missing.
bus<>red = Word order.
T = Tense
Marcket = Underlined words highlights spelling errors.
Decided to be him when saw the persons who were = Underlined sentences can not be understood,

You can add colour to highlight the areas to be checked. I tend to avoid red as it seems to be too negative. In addition to the editing above I try and sandwich my comments with something positive, something to work on, then something positive again. Process writing is time consuming so the students need support and praise in order to keep their motivation high.

Deadlines - I have found these to be the most important thing when teaching writing like this. Most, many, some students will leave it until the last minute to write the essays. I give the students 7 days for one essay.
Day one - Decide an essay topic and do some research
Day two - Write an outline
Day three to four - Finish the first draft
Day four - At the end of day four I edit it
Day five - The students make the changes.
Day six - I edit the second daft.
Day seven - Students make changes and additions and hand it in.

If your students are naturally motivated you won't need so many deadlines. However, the last class I taught needed the extra push. 

What are the benefits?

I'm currently doing research on this so nothing conclusive yet. From what I have observed, the word count increases significantly. Sentences structure is improved and is more complex with less run-ons and fragments. Essay structure is more organized and ideas are explained more clearly. Grammar errors are still there, however, these are to be expected given the fact the students are trying to write longer and more complex sentences.


It may seem a complex process, but writing is a complex process. The Wiki allows a teacher to edit quickly and effectively. This gives the student immediate access to their writing and allows them to look at past essays as they are all stored on the same page. They simply have to scroll down to see what was good and what should be improved from their last essay. Learning to write takes time, so the more feedback and support the student has, the more likely they are to succeed. 

The short video below takes you through a Wiki which I use in class. You'll be able to see how the essay outlines and assessment rubrics are outlines, as well as see how the student work is organised. 

Task-based reading: Child Labour

Child Labour project 

The inspiration for this project came from a music video featuring the band Radiohead. The song is called 'All I need' and it was adapted for a campaign by MTV. Also, from the childlaborphotoproject.

I wanted to create a reading task which was not limited to the page, so I incorporated video, group work, online reading and a group presentation. 

Objectives

- Skimming & Scanning

- Matching text to images

- Online reading
- Research
- Group presentation

Step 1 - Image
Show the students the image below. Ask them what ideas, words or thoughts come to mind.

Step 2 - The Video

Play the video for the class, without introducing the topic.

Step 3 - Discussion
Ask the students some questions about the video, such as:
- How do you feel about it?
- What words come to mind?
- What are the main differences between the two boys?
- What do you think the theme of the video is?


Step 4 - Reading
Hand out the document below to your students. Then ask them to look at the first page which has 3 stories.

Child Labor Lesson by

Step 5 - Matching

The students will have to match the stories above to the picture below. Each story has 2 pictures. There are two pictures which are not needed. 

I usually put the students in groups for this as the reading section can be a little tricky. Just tell your students to look for key words, as that will help them, for example: Rubbish, bricks war etc.

Step 6 - Missing words

On page two of the PDF is a list of sentences. The students have to read the stories again and put the missing sentences in the right places. Again, key words will help them.

Step 7 - Online Research

On the second page of the PDF are a series of questions. guide the students to this website http://www.childlaborphotoproject.org. By reading this website they will be able to find the answers to the questions. 

Images of child labor

Step 8 - Presentation

Put the students into groups and ask them to compare and check their answers. Then, tell the students that they will make a group presentation where EVERY member must speak. They will have to 
- Choose 4 questions to answer;
- Explain why they chose those particular questions;
- Explain what they learned from this activity, individually;
- Give a group opinion on how we can prevent child labour.

Expansion activity
Further activities could include:
- Further research into other child labour projects;
- Write a report on how we can stop child labour;
- Group project to create awareness of child labour;
- Using the video, write a day in the life of each boy.

I really like doing this as a group activity. It allows the students to talk about reading, instead of just answering questions about it. The presentation at the end is just to make sure that they have understood what they have read and not just copied and pasted the answers.

Sometimes my students will read the answer as it is, so I always make sure they have written or speak the answer in their own words. It helps with their summarizing and paraphrasing skills. 

If you have created any other task-based reading skills, please share them.

What reading activities have worked well in your classroom?

Post test XP bonus points!!!!

I think that some my students expect and to some extent enjoy taking quizzes and tests. However, some of them, no matter how much they study find tests and quizzes intimidating. 

I realised this and thought, after the test I'll give my students a few more days to study, then I'll give them another chance with a similar quiz. I thought this was fair and a great way to keep students involved and thinking about the topic which needed to be learned. As I should of expected, few of them actually studied, and ended up with the same grade, something slightly lower or some marginally higher. A failed idea I thought.

Anyway, a few days later I asked my friend what XP was, as he was always talking about it when playing computer games. He said it meant "experience", and went on to say, "When I play, I obtain experience points which I can then use  to buy weapons, spells and stuff."

I had read about using game theory in education and thought it was a great opportunity to apply it. Here's how I did it.

Step 1 - There is still hope!

When I give back the grammar, reading, writing, speaking, or writing test, there are often some students who look disappointed. I tell them not to worry, as they can earn more points on their test.

Step 2 - Here's how you do it.

If student a gets 8/20 on a test, they can gain XP points. If it is a grammar test, they do this by completing more grammar work on that theme. At first you may need to give them some extra work. However, after the first time, tell them they have to find their own XP points by finding extra work online or in books.

For example: Sarah gets 9/20 on her test, so she wants more points.

1 - She can do some online practice, take a screen shot and send it to me. 

Screen shot taken from: Perfect English grammar

2 - She can complete a worksheet/PDF, take a pic of it and send it to me.

Taken from: ClassWiki

Step 3 - Awarding points.

This is completely up to you. But when I did it, I awarded half to 1 point depending on how many pieces of work the student did.

In Sarah's case, if she sent me a screen shot of 10 questions answered, I may give her an extra point. Her score has gone from 9/20 to 10/20. Now, if she does more work she can get even more XP points!

Step 4 - Too much!

There is a chance you will get lots of students sending you work to get extra XP points. In this case, I create a page on my class Wiki for the students to upload their work to. It helps me to keep everything organised. 

I like giving my students extra chances to earn points for their tests, as well as helping them to become more autonomous in their learning. It means they keep learning about the topic, which in the end I hope helps them to understand it more. 

I have used this with my writing, grammar and reading classes, and there is no reason why you couldn't use it for speaking and listening. They can record their voice on vocaroo and email it to you, or listen to some tracks and answer questions about it. All you need is that evidence of learning. 

I'm hoping to use the system as an alternative or instead of tests. What other methods do you use to assess your students learning? I'd love to hear them.

Kids book

For this project I wanted to give the students more freedom in which to work. Usually, I would give each group a page on my Wikispace.  I did this so I could manage and monitor them more closely. 

However, for this class I decided to give each group their own Wiki. It meant that they had to give me permission to access their Wiki.

By doing this I wanted the students to take more responsibility and take a step back from the project in order to leave it to them. I took on much more of an observing role in this project. I was there to offer support and any help, however, I wanted each group to make the project their own and work independently from me. 

Objectives

- Autonomous learning;
- Team work;
- Collaborative writing;
- Design;
- Book creation;
- Group presentation. 

Step 1

Assign the students to groups, but try and vary their writing ability. 

I usually put one strong writer in each group to act as the lead and kind of teacher to the others.

Step 2 - Aims

Tell the students that they are going to make a book for kids. They have to decide:

- Theme;

- Age of children;

- Method of delivery - eBook or paper-based;

- Style;

- Content;

- Design

- Basically everything.

However, they should keep in mind that this book should encourage kids to read more so it should be interesting. Also, the book will be given to orphanages or refugee schools. Therefore, it should be cheap to reproduce. 

Step 3

Help each group to set up their own Wiki. Explain how they can possibly use one page for ideas, research, notes etc. However, leave it at that. Part of the fun is for them to figure out how to use it for themselves. They will inevitably find stuff you didn't even know about and teach you how to use it. It has happened many times, believe me!! 

Step 4 - Research

Tell the groups that the first step is research. They should go to book stores, amazon etc and find out what makes a good kids book. After a few days, with the class talk about what makes a good kids book. Then, how can they use these ideas in their project.

Step 5 - Theme

For many of my students, coming up with a theme was the hardest part. Should it be a fairy tale, informational? I talked to each group about it, but I didn't decide for them. I just asked questions and let them figure it out for themselves. 

Step 6 - Method

Each group had to decide whether to make the book online as a Wiki or paper-based. As a class we had a discussion about this. We looked at eBooks, paper-based books and made a list of the advantages and disadvantages. These could range from, price, ease of editing etc.

Step 7 - Deadlines!

With all group projects I want the students to understand the importance of deadlines. I made sure that each group showed me their task notes and asked them to explain who was doing what and when it should be done. This helps to reduce misunderstandings and to make sure each person feels responsible for their own part.

Step 8 - Group cohesion 

I had one group that seemed to take a disliking to each other. I had emails saying they wanted to change groups or go solo. In the end, I told them to deal with it. You are in a group, it is up to you to put aside your differences. Be a little more considerate and compromise. It is an important skill to learn, so do it! Eventually, the group produced an excellent piece of work - to my surprise!

The project ended up going really well. I was amazed at the amount of work the students had put into it. It was also interesting to hear that apart from the regular meetings we had in class, they held regular meetings outside of the classroom to talk about and meet their own self-made deadlines.

Giving them full control could have gone two ways - badly or great. Luckily for me it was the latter. They exceeded my expectations in all ways. They documented their work, shared ideas, held meetings outside the class and generally put in a lot of effort into it. 

I guess the proof is in the work. Check out the video below for an example of the students' work.

Classroom magazine: Part 2

For the second part of the magazine project, I wanted the students to delve a little deeper into the story. I wanted them to become investigative journalist. For this they would have to do more research and get more involved in the story. 

Objectives

- Collaboration;

- Research a story;

- Learn something that you didn't know before;

- Investigate the story in more depth;

- Present your research / findings on a Wiki page;

- Write a report of at least 600 words collaboratively;

- Present your research and/or findings in the speaking class.

Classroom magazine part 1 asked the students to write an article by themselves in order to add it to a magazine. Each student contributed 3 articles to it. In part 2, students are asked to collaborate on one single article. 

Step 1

In the same groups as before, the students brainstorm possible stories of interest. As the teacher, I had to help them focus their ideas or even try and help them to go deeper into the story. 

Step 2

When they have chosen a story, the students should brain storm what they want to find out and how they are going to get that information. My students used, questionnaires, interviews, online research etc.

Step 3

One very organised group made task notes for everyone to follow in the group that week. I loved that idea, highlighted it to the other students and asked them to do the same. It really helped not only the students to keep track of their progress but myself included. 

Task notes of one group taken from the project

Step 4

Encouragement! The first week of the project I held daily meetings with each group. I told them I was the editor of the magazine and, therefore, needed to keep track of the progress. I let each group decide their own path, however, I guided them a little, or pushed them when I felt they could do more. 

Step 5

Writing - I told the students they would have to check each other's work and offer help where needed. I also told them that I would help to edit their work. All they had to do was email me and tell me changes had been made.

Step 6

Presentation - When the project was over it was time to present their work to the rest of the class. Each group did a group presentation using their Wiki page or power point slides as visual aides.

Issues - As with any group project there were some problems with group members and 'free-loaders' who didn't pull their weight. The Wiki allowed me to keep track of the progress and then the daily meetings allowed me to note who was contributing to the project. No matter what the problem, I tried my best not to intervene unless

necessary. I wanted the students to work through the problems by themselves. 

In the end, all groups exceeded my expectations. This project became the bench mark for all other projects as the students really utalised all the creative and collaborative tools on it. Probably the best thing is, they taught themselves how to do it. 

Check out the video below for some examples of their work.

Class Magazine - Part 1

Objectives

- Cooperative learning;

- Subject research;

- Create 3 magazine articles;

- Team work;

- Peer editing.

I wanted to do a project with the class that had co-operative learning (students work on individual pieces of work and add them to one project - e.g. magazine) and collaborative learning (Students working collaboratvely on one piece of work - e.g. one article).

I was reading the news online and thought... that's it. We'll make a class magazine which will be created in a Wiki. Below you'll be able to find out how I did it with my class. I hope you find it useful.

Part 1 - Co-operative learning: Magazine articles.

Step 1

Brainstorm what kind of topics are interesting to read in magazines or online. You can do this with the whole class. Make a list of all the topics, such as fashion, music, food etc. Then, write them on the board. Finally, ask the students to vote which topics they want in the magazine. For my class we chose 6 topics: Entertainment, fashion, food & drink, travel, sport and health & fitness.

Step 2

Put the students into groups of three. The aim of this is to use the group as a support network for ideas and writing tips. Each group member will contribute 3 stories to the magazine. They can't choose the same topic twice. So student A could choose to write about, sport, fashion and travel. 

Step 3

I gathered each group together for regular meetings. It gave each group member a chance to seek support from the other members and it also gave me a chance to check on their progress and offer any guidance.

The end result was better that I had expected. Each student worked hard on the magazine and I was impressed with their commitment to it. Watch the video below for examples of student work. 

Part 2 of class magazine will look at the collaborative side of the project. 

Classroom make over

I walk into my classroom and immediately feel down, because of the drab and dull colours of the walls, small windows and horrible florescent lights. That, plus the fact that the chairs and tables are all facing forward like they have always done. This seating plan doesn't work well for the group work which I like to do.

I felt it the classroom was in dire need of a make over, for my sake and even more, for my students. I had noticed that of late they seem less and less enthused about being in the class for 4 hours a day. With this in mind, I decided to create a project to tackle this. All the information can be found below with pictures from the students' work. 

Taken from students' Wiki page

The objectives for this project were:

- Research;

- Sharing ideas via a Wiki page;

- Team work & Collaboration;

- The creation of a new classroom;

- Using pictures & video to explain the design;

- A collaborative written report of more than 600 words;

- A group presentation of the final design. 

Assessment 
- 75% final product assessment from the teacher;
- 25% self-assessment from each student;
- Group assessment to corroborate self-assessment.

Step 1 - The project

Put the students in groups. Preferably in 3s of mixed ability to better facilitate the group process. Then, with the whole class, brain storm things which the students feel could be improved upon in the classroom. For example, seating plan, colour scheme, furniture. 

Step 2

Research time: Using the Wiki page the students will be able to upload, collect and share pictures, video and ideas. 

* I've noticed that when each group makes task notes with deadlines, it keeps the group process moving along for each member.

Step 3
Get each group to hold regular meetings to talk about progress and next steps. Also to find out if each member is sticking to the task notes and deadlines that they create. 

Step 4
About half way through the project, ask the students to do a self-assessment. I do this, because it makes each student think about if they are doing enough work in the group.

Project Self-assessment (V2) by Simon Williams

Step 5

Using the Wiki page you will be able to monitor each group's progress. I usually highlight new and interesting work to the whole class. This keeps each group aware of what the others are doing. It also gives them the little push to do more when they have seen what the others have done. 

Step 6

When the project is done, ask the students to do the self-assessment again (Step 4). You can use this score as part of the 25%. For the final 75% you could use the rubrics below.

Rubrics for Classroom design project by Simon Williams

Step 7 - Writing

When the Wiki page has been completed, the students wrote an advantage & disadvantage essay highlighting the advantages of the newly designed classroom and disadvantages of the current one. This was a course requirement and also allowed me to prevent any plagiarism as the essay content is too specific.

*The written aspect would easily work as a reflective essay also.

Step 8 - Speaking

The students also created a group presentation. They then presented their project and ideas to the other groups. 

Below you'll be able to watch a video. In it I show you some of the work that the students have done.