Secondary School Materials (Bookshelf)

The Bookshelf materials include model lesson plans for secondary school teachers about how to write and edit on Wikipedia. Quite a few educators are already incorporating Wikipedia writing and editing into their coursework because the educational benefits are significant: for example, students learn to research and cite references, write for a real audience, learn how to edit, learn how to collaborate and iterate, etc., as well as learning about the specific subject matter about which they are writing. (For example see a case study and a list of other resources on this wiki. This project will create lesson plans that reflect lessons learned from these efforts as well as direct input from active secondary school teachers.

We are recruiting secondary school teachers to help us develop the lesson plans and ensure they are relevant and useful. We need teachers to provide input during the instructional design phase as well as the review phase, working with our writer who will do the "heavy lifting".

Here are more specifics:

Who we need
Active teachers familiar with Wikipedia who use project-based and/or collaborative projects in their classrooms. Specific qualifications include:

  • Teacher certificate
  • 3+ years as a classroom teacher
  • Experience developing curriculum and lesson plans
  • Enjoys collaboration and team work
  • Able to keep schedule commitments

What we need
We need people for several roles and single person can participate in one or more of these roles. These roles include:

  • Be available for telephone interview with lead writer. The purpose of the interview will be to understand what a good lesson plan must include and to understand classroom dynamics. (Note: our writer has been a teacher himself so you will not have to explain what a lesson plan is or how classrooms in general work.)
  • Subject matter experts in the topic area the lesson plans will cover who can provide the draft content the lesson plans will include
  • Reviewers who can provide feedback on the design and drafts

Stipend
We will pay a stipend commensurate with your role in the project.

Timing
We are recruiting team members this calendar quarter and the work will take place during the second and third quarters of the calendar year.

Time Commitment

  • Kick off team meeting(s): 1-3 hours
  • Interviewee: 1-2 hours
  • Reviewer: 2-6 hours per lesson plan
  • Subject Matter Expert in Lesson Topic: this will depend on how much material you already have versus what needs to be created. We anticipate you will already have the materials and we will collaboratively adapt them to this use.

Please sign up
If you are interested, please sign up by clicking the edit button and then providing your contact information below. Please indicate what role(s) you are interested in. We will get back to you over the next few weeks.

My name is Lillian Geltz and I am a secondary English teacher with 37 years experience (and am also certified to teach French). I have recently earned a Master's degree - 21st Century Teaching and Learning - through online Wiles University in Pennsylvania. I have taught ninth grade;however, for the last 20+ years, I have taught honors level junior English as well as an honors level course, Honors Humanities, for seniors. I imagine that my abilities are best suited to to the reviewer role and perhaps subject matter. Without having direct specifics, this task is a bit difficult to assess. I would like to add that I have my students complete a great deal of their work online, collaborating and peer reviewing and critiquing. For example, my junior class this semester created a class wiki based on the book October Sky. This was a collaborative effort that was then used by other teachers in my school who had students using the text. Another student project had each student creating his/her own individual wikispace for individual study of American authors. They likewise linked their googledoc poetry project onto their American lit study. I love learning and I love technology; the combination offers untold heights for our kids today & in the future. I would love being a part of your project to create viable materials for others. Thanks so much, Lillian Geltz Lillian L. Geltz lgeltz@cysd.k12.pa.us and lil637@comcast.net & MrsLGeltz@gmail.com 717.887.8290


My name is Colleen Barnes. I am a high school math teacher in Pittsburgh, PA. I would be interested in participating in this project as a reviewer or a subject matter expert. I have been teaching for 11 years. I am incorporating more and more technology into my math classes and encouraging my colleagues to do the same. My email address is cbarnes@westallegheny.k12.pa.us.

I edit various wmf wikis under the username 'Privatemusings' - I have quite a lot of experience in using wikis, and a range of relevant professional experience in communication and education. I'm not sure if anyone is reviewing or responding to these messages at this time, but I hope so! - I'd like to put myself forward as interested in participating in this project. You can email me by going to my userpage and clicking 'email this user' - or directly on thepmaccount@gmail.com - I'm also on 'IRC' every so often, and am a strong supporter of voice communication via technology like 'Skype' - I'm interested in participating in a 'round table' discussion which could be podcasted / uploaded about this project, so certainly 'ping' me if you too think that's a good idea! cheers, Privatemusings 03:32, 5 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]