Think+Tank

Final Project-Ideas and Resources

Rose's Final Project I am planning on lecturing / leading a discussion on themes in picture books as seen from an adult point of view. The event will be held a public library and is meant for adults in the community. I think a wiki, at minimum listing themes with lists of relevant books under them, would be a good way to begin the discussion. Perhaps the books and themes could link to another, more bloglike page, where people could make comments. I've started adding books to LibraryThing, some of which are related to this project; I'm not entirely sure yet how to relate this to my wiki page. Suggestions and comments are welcome.

Carla's final project- I would like to try and create a wiki from a school media standpoint, and incorporate flickr photos of students or podcasts from students. The wiki will be in more of a pathfinder/study guide set up and I am thinking of choosing a grade and one subject area to concentrate on (maybe "writing a paper" resources too) in order to put many good sources together. Too many thoughts rolling around in my head at this point to cement down, but starting with a wiki may be the best way to begin? Any teachers out there with suggestions on what they would find most helpful???

(Carla, just a few thoughts: I would require a password to use the wiki and only give it out after telling the students, once again, to be careful about what they post and how to share. Will you let them help create the wiki? Will you moderate it---approve their suggestions before putting them on the wiki? The formatting of a paper is helpful: everything from double-spacing to italics instead of underlining to footnotes and bibliographies. Maybe a brief review of resources: why wikipedia is not as good as bartleby.com or iCONN's databases, unless it is. While my tendency is to overwhelm people with examples (e.g., this comment), perhaps a few, well-chosen sources would be better. If students can add their own resources, it might be useful for them to include their names with their suggestions. Rose Myers)

Thanks Rose for your thoughts. As I progress with this project, I will impliment your suggestions. I was going to add a page to the wiki about references, but I will add a formatting page as well. I had thought about having both parents and students sign a "release" form and include something along the lines of putting only "school-quality" material on the wiki, etc. My termanology needs work, but something in that direction.