The Wiki Mentor Project

Mrs. Blake’s class has made their first posts today.  The students are telling about a lizard that they have in their classroom, and they are telling about some of the stories that they are reading.

This is the first of its kind with the Wiki Mentor Project.  We have not used blogs in the past to connect our students, so we may have to alter the name of the project if this shows any kind of success.

The TAKS test may keep us from flying high until late April.  Which is fine with me.  We have the blog setup and the next step is to train the students how to use the blog.  That will take some time, which is why we will need to wait until after TAKS.

My visit with Mrs. Blake (4th grade teacher) was very encouraging.  She wants to start a classroom blog for her students with be mentored with students from the Jr. High.  We signed her up for an Edublog and are waiting for the activation e-mail to come in.  Our conversation led to other things that we would like to try and other Web 2.0 materials to use in her classroom.  Lots of exciting things…a good time to be an educator.

I visited with a fourth grade teacher today who is very interested in becoming a part of the WMP.  I may have to rename the project since we will use blogs as well, but for now the name stays the same.  We are going to meet during her conference tomorrow, so I will be adding more details then.

The bad news: We are through with our first mentoring paper this week. 

The good news:  We have only just begun.

I spoke with the 6th grade writing department head and she is ready to put all of the 6th grade students into the project.  I will need some more mentors.  More projects are on the way, so watch the blog and your e-mail for more information.

The computer lab was taken today and Tuesday will be taken out by a Pep Rally.  Needless to say, do not expect a lot of updates to our stories this week.  We are putting an end to this project this Friday.  So, Thursday night will be your last opportunity to help your students finish out their stories.  Do not worry.  We will be doing another project soon.

You have all worked hard, and I appreciate the way you have handled yourselves during the past few days.

I cannot express how pleased I am with the job our mentors are doing.  Keep up the good work!

Remember a couple of things:

1. Make sure you put your name when sending a comment.  There are several comments that do not have a name or they have my name (weird).
2. Watch the typos in your comments.  We want to be a solid role model for our fledgling writers.

We are into the third day of our project and the weekend is before us.  I want to know what you have to say about the project so far.  What are your questions, concerns, or suggestions?  Perhaps you want to comment or give your opinion of the project so far?  E-mail me if you would like to keep your feedback private.  Otherwise, blog what is on your mind!

Our 7th grade writers entered their first few lines of their stories today.  They are eager to hear from their mentors.  The sophomore writers are ready to begin editing and revising the protege’s works. 

The Wiki Mentor Project came from a desire to see junior high school students develop their writing skills while collaborating with high school students.  Through the use of this blog and student wikis, students will develop original pieces of written work under the watchful eye of their teachers and mentors.

Feel free to visit this blog at anytime for updates and to watch students in action.  Some of the blog will be restricted from the public for student safety.  Feel free to join in discussions or ask questions.

For more information clink Project in a Nutshell.