Gain 5/21: Creating a Wiki

This is the link to my Wiki:  https://sites.google.com/site/engaginamericanhistorysources/

I should say that I have had experience creating wikis and I actually used the one I created a few weeks ago as the major source in creating this one.  It gearing up to look almost like the same websites, with one major exception; I created the first website as a resource for teachers, specifically me, and this website is laid out for the students.

The original website can be viewed here:  http://engagingamhsources.wikispaces.com/

This website is organized by the common core standards for social studies in the State of Ohio.  It is designed as a place for teachers to go to to grab primary sources and lesson plans for their classroom.  I imagined using it significantly myself as a place to hold resources that are conveniently organized by the content statement that I will be teaching with more intentionality.

The wiki that I created for this assignment was created more for students.  Instead of things being labeled as "Content Statement One or two," the information is labeled as "Big Idea One or Two."  This website would also include much more commentary and help for the users and would have assignments to complete within the wiki.  For example, I was thinking it would be great to have an assignment where the students must comment on the primary sources page, or follow through one of the lesson guides provided by external links.

I want to add something about the differences between Wiki Spaces and Google Sites.  As far as how they function, there is very little difference.  I was easily able to jump right into sites and even felt like I had been there before just from my experience with Wiki Spaces.  I will say though, that I like the fact that Sites is connected to the Gmail account, which makes the Sites app integrate well with the other apps that will be used in the classroom.  So for that simple reason, I think I will use Google Sites in my future classroom.