Getting+Started+with+Wikispaces

=Creating a Wikispaces Wiki= //Disclaimer: I really like how easy Wikispaces has been for my students. So unless I discover I have a lot more time than I think I do, this site will be only supporting the Wikispaces platform. In the "You May Also Be Interested" page there are links to other services in which you can create a wiki. For teachers the other "popular" services seem to be PBWorks and WetPaint.//

====1) Think about two really big ideas. The first is what will you name your wiki and the second is what your username will be. I would suggest for the name of the wiki, something that is easy to remember and doesn't necessarily broadcast to the world your exact location (you should think about this because it is a good lesson in online safety). I named my class wiki "wolfhounds" because it is my class nickname. I have heard of other teachers use names like "Room226" or "Our4thGradeCommunity". You might need to be flexible, the name you choose might already be taken.==== ====As far as your username, it needs to be something that you will be comfortable sharing with your students. Your username will be seen by your kids, so "huggybear554" or "hotteacher16" are probably not the best choices. :) Again, be prepared to be flexible, your first choice may already be taken.====

====2) Once you have step one completed, click here to go to Wikispaces. I created this link to open a new window so that you can click back and forth between the new windows. Use the "Get Started" area to enter your chosen username, password and email. After you create an account, come back to this page to review number 3.====



Step 4: Hit "Create"
====4) Tah-Dah!!!! You know have a Wiki. You will see a pop-up screen that will give you some options for exploring. That is a great way to start, but you can also close it out, because the rest of this screen helps with some of the big things to get going on immediately.====

====So you can get the free educator's upgrade. This is important for 2 reasons. The first is that it will allow you to add users without having to get email addresses. Secondly, it will turn of the advertisements you see on the right side of the page.====



B) The Look and Feel (this is where you can change the colors and how the wiki looks): For a Wikispaces video tutorial on this idea click here
====C) Adding pages with the "New Page" button near the top of the wiki. I started with having a page for each student in my class. You can do this even if you haven't added students to the wiki. This is a great way to be ready before you actually introduce the wiki to your class.====

Under "Trick Your Wiki" is "What To Do With Your Wiki" which is an area I left some ideas about how to use a wiki. Hopefully in the future, you will feel like adding ideas that you discover.
====Under "What To Do With Your Wiki" is "You May Also Be Interested" which has links to wiki related sites and other places where people are exploring how to use Web 2.0 tools in schools. I have found all of these to be very helpful.==== ====Under all the pages for this Wiki are links to my Delicious Bookmarks (my online bookmarking service, feel free to check it out for useful links) and a link to my blog (a space for me to share tech in the classroom ideas and reviews of books that I think are great for middle grade students).====

====6) As a reminder, once you leave here and you want to get back to your wiki, just type in the direct address of your wiki and sign in with the button in the upper right hand corner. You can also go to www.wikipaces.com and sign in there. You will see a page that looks like the image below. Then, just click on your wiki.====

= 7) Once you get your free educator upgrade and can start adding your students to you wiki, you can easily do it with the User Creator Button which can be found by clicking "Manage Wiki". We did this today when I added you to this wiki. In case your forget the steps I showed you below is a pretty easy to follow video. It is from Youtube, so if your district blocks Youtube, you'll need to watch at home. media type="youtube" key="pFwsW5BqtlI" height="344" width="425" = ====8) Now that you have your wiki established and your class registered as members, you'll need to share the link to the wiki, usernames and passwords so your kids can get started. Here are a few tips to help you get started:====

A) Work hard to really establish a community where kids only work on areas that are designated for them or the entire class. It is easy to check who did what, so you can check in on this idea.
====B) Allow the kids to play around a little before you really dig in with a project. My class had 2-3 hours, spread over a couple of days, of "free exploration" before we used the wiki for any kind of project.====