Welcome to (at least) my vision of one possible use for wikis. To help get everyone started, I've included some FAQs below, just in case some of you may not be familiar with what a wiki is, and why it would be a great planning tool. I've also included a short video (props to CommonCraft- those people are amazing) that does a great job of explaining wikis. I encourage you to take a look at the video, as it is really informative!




FAQs

Why a wiki?
Good question! With our schedules, every moment is precious! Wiki's offer everyone a chance to get their thoughts out there before the team gets together to plan, and it offers a venue for everyone to share their ideas (see the Brainstorming page). Plus, there's the added benefit of being able to plan in your pajamas, since you can access the wiki from anywhere there is a computer, even your couch!

I've never used a wiki before! How does it work?
No worries! If you've used a wordprocessing package, such as Microsoft Word, you're good to go! When you access a page, you'll see a button in the upper left hand corner that says Easy Edit. Just click that, and the page turns into an editable document that you can edit yourself. Just be sure to click the Save button when you're done, or anything you added will be lost!

Does this mean I don't have to come to meetings?
No! While wikis are great ways to get everyone's ideas out on the table (or the page, so to speak), they do not replace the good old fashioned face-to-face meeting. What they will help with, though, is all the "pre" meeting stuff - when everyone is getting their thoughts out, with the advantage being that everyone's ideas - especially those who tend to be a little quieter than others - can be shared, and saved in written form for use. Think of it this way, if everyone had a chance to post, and review, the wiki prior to a meeting, and then highlight those ideas they like best, the opportunity for idea sharing is not only mulitplied tenfold, but also the time can be devoted to developing those ideas!

Soooooo...there's the basics! If you're ready to get started, just click on any of the pages that you'd like to add to, and get started. I've included a basic description of the ones I've set up. Once you get started, feel free to add your own (but be careful - too many pages, and it starts to get convoluted! ).

Brainstorming - a page to just get out your "big ideas" - maybe you attended a workshop over the summer (or earlier), and you found yourself saying, "Ooooh! I've got to share that with the team for next year!
Suggested Texts - This is a great place to "dump" those titles you've found in your "spare" time, as well as what their purpose could be. There is also a way to create a hyperlink (I'll put the instructions on the page - very easy!!) so that others can see the text, too.
Planning - this page is for tracking what the group decides. Ideally, someone in the group will be updating this as the team plans in person, and then saves it so everyone can access the site later to remember what was decided.
PreAP - think of this page as a place to brainstorm/ask questions specific to the PreAP classroom.
Accomodations - same thing as PreAP, only for accomodations

And finally - if you, too, should catch the Wiki bug, please feel free to copy and paste (yes, you can do that!) any of these pages into your own Wetpaint wiki. Just go to www.wetpaint.com, set up your account, and follow the steps to setting up your own wikisite. Once that is done, you can copy any of these pages into your own wiki page by just highlighting the text from here you'd like to use, going back to your wetpaint site, clicking EasyEdit, and pasting into the page. You'll probably get a pop up that says it needs to reformat the info - that's fine, just let it. One note, though, if you are going to copy anything that is hyperlinked within your site, you'll need to edit the hyperlink. Email me (rebecca.singley@springbranchisd.com) if you need help doing this, and I'll be glad to help.