This professional development session taught 1st grade teachers how to use wikis. The session was 1 hour long and taught teachers what a wiki is, how to create PBworks accounts and wikis, and add pages, links, and photos. Teachers practiced setting up their own wikis to organize educational websites by subject for use in their classrooms. Formative assessments included observing teachers as they worked and a self-assessment survey. Most teachers found wikis an interesting tool and liked the idea of using one to organize classroom resources and student links by subject. Suggestions to improve included providing printed instructions in addition to the digital format.

1. Title of Unit Working the Audience 1st Grade Team
Wiki Way!
Curriculum Professional Time Frame 1 Session
Development
Area
Stage 1 – Identify Desired Results
Content Standards:
The library media specialist as teacher of information skills makes use of a variety of instructional strategies and assessment
tools. (2b)
The library media specialist as teacher of information makes use of a variety of instructional strategies and assessment tools.
(2b)
Candidates employ strategies to integrate the information literacy curriculum with content curriculum. (2c)
Candidates incorporate technology to promote efficient and equitable access to information beyond print resources. (2c)
Candidates assist students to use technology to access, analyze, and present information. (2c)
Candidates acknowledge the importance of participating on school and district committees and in faculty staff development
opportunities (3b)
Understandings
Teachers will understand that:
 A wiki is a multi-dimensional tool that can be effective in the
classroom.
 A wiki is easy to make, navigate, and use.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions:
 What is a Wiki?
 How can a wiki be used effectively in the classroom setting?
Knowledge
Students will know:
 A wiki is a type of website that easily allows the easy creation
and editing of any number of interlinked web pages through a
browser
 PBworks is a website where you can create a wiki
 How to add links to the wiki
 How to create multiple pages

2.  How to insert photos
Skills
Students will be able to :
 Access personal PBworks account
 Create a wiki page through their PBworks account
 Add multiple pages to a wiki
 Add links to a wiki page
 Insert photos by uploading and linking
Stage 2- Assessment Evidence
Performance Task Other Evidence
Goal:
Formative:
Your goal is to set up an account
After the teacher has taught
through Pbworks.com and begin to
the content of what a wiki is
create your own wiki.
and demonstrated the different
tasks she will walk around the
Role:
room as the teachers work to
You are a 1st grade classroom assist and answer questions.
teacher working to effective
classroom tools. Self Assessment/Evaluation:
Audience: The teachers will complete an
evaluation that assesses what
The audience is the students you
they learned throughout the
teach, the teachers your work with,
session.
and/or the parents of your
students.
Situation:
As a team you have been Follow Up: Teachers were given
encouraged by your principal to
my email address for any
find a tool that you can use to
questions or concerns, as well
create a comprehensive list of all
as the link to the wiki used for
your resources across different
instruction to refer back.
subject areas.

3. Product Performance and Purpose:
You are to successfully sign up for
an account through PBworks and
begin to create a wiki that lists all
of your education internet sites by
grade level.
Standards and Criteria for Success:
Stage 3- Learning Plan
Learning Activities:
1. I will start with introducing myself and asking for any
knowledge that the teachers have about wiki’s. The essential
question will be written on the smart board and referenced to
the teachers.
2. I will then use a slide rocket presentation to inform the
teachers of what a wiki is and the different ways you can use
them to compile different online resources and as a teaching
tool.
3. I will show the teachers several different examples of wiki’s
through my PBworks account. Then I will inform the teachers
that we will begin to create a wiki that houses all of their
educational websites broken down by subject area.
4. I will use the smart board to demonstrate for the teachers and
guide them through creating their own pbworks account.
Then I will guide and instruct them on how to create a new wiki
page. Each teacher will create one page.
5. Once they pull up their pages together we will create four
headings: Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and math. I
will then demonstrate to them how to:
• Create a page for each of those headings
• How to insert links to various websites on each page
• How to upload a picture
• How to link the different pages of the wiki together
*For each step listed above I will demonstrate the task. Then have
each teacher attempt to do it on their page. I will walk around and

4. help as needed during each task.
6. Teachers will then be given a chance to continue working and
creating their own personal resource wiki page while I walk
around to answer questions and assist.
7. Teachers will fill out a self evaluation page and an evaluation
survey for the class.

5. Reflection
I am really glad that I was given this opportunity to practice giving
a professional development unit because this was one aspect of
the media specialist job that didn’t have any experience with. I
am so used to teaching elementary students and feel completely
out of my league when I am asked to teach adults. During the
planning stages I was somewhat unsure of specific instructional
methods I could use and didn’t have any background knowledge
of how to go about teaching this group of learners. At first I
thought I would go through, show them a task on the wiki. Then
let them complete it. But, during the actual lesson it ran a lot
better if I explained all the different tasks and then allowed them to
begin building their own. They could pull up my wiki if they needed
to refer back to the step by step directions as I walked around and
helped. It made it helpful that all of the teachers had their lap tops
with them and could go follow along. Next time though, on top of
all the directions through the digital format I will also print written
directions for each teacher. Although, they could follow the
directions on the wiki with their computer, it would have been
helpful for them to have the directions right next to them while
they were working independently. This was also a suggestion that
was given through the evaluation.
Honestly, I was really worried about the attitude of the teachers I
would be teaching because of all the meetings and duties they are
asked to perform. However, as it turned out they were excited
about learning about this tool as many of them had heard about
wiki’s and were interested in learning how to use them. The
group was made up of teachers and student teachers that worked
with the first grade team. I really felt like the student teachers’
excitement about this tool helped the teachers to be willing to
learn. Gauging from the evaluations they did find wiki’s an
interesting tool. Most of them really liked the idea of using the wiki
to organize their resources by subject area. Also, many of them
thought this tool would help organize their student links. They
could create a page of class links organized by subject that could
be kept on their class computers’ homepages and then their
students would be able to find their way to sites they use
regularly.
Lesson Evaluation:
The Wiki Way Lesson Evaluation

6. 1. What did you know about wiki’s before this lesson? _______________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
2. What did you learn about wiki’s? ______________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. Will you use this tool in your classroom? ___________ How? ______________
___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
4. What parts of this lesson was helpful? __________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
5. What suggestions do you have that would help to improve the effectiveness of this
lesson? ______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________