Students in Dawn Thompson’s English 12 class have created a Macbeth Wiki for the DIP Expo to be held this Friday from 3:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. in the volleyball gym.

“I was looking for new ways to emphasize creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking skills in my students,” Tho-mpson said. “However, I also wanted the students to learn more about Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.”

Thompson said the students were divided into five groups, one per each act.

“They had to research the following areas: scene summaries, famous quotations, major and minor characters, stylistic devices and themes,” she said. “The groups created an individual page for each sections, including a bibliography page. They found that Wikispaces Web site was an ideal tool, because it was very user friendly.”

“I really enjoyed creating my page. I learned a lot about Macbeth and technology,”senior Corinthian Sims said.

Students added colorful images to enhance their pages.

They also found video and podcast links.

“Having an appropriate image next to the information will help me to remember the content for my final exam,” John Starr said.

Because this work lives on the Wiki, all the students in the class, regardless of which group they worked in, have a chance to learn from their peers.

The students can review their content at any time to help them study.

Additionally, Thompson can use this Wiki to teach future classes about Macbeth.

, “Previous classes have created Wikis for English writers, including biographical information, a summary of a major work, a list of all works by that writer, and other relevant information,” Thompson said. “I actually use those Wikis to introduce the author to the class. Now, I will have a fantastic resource for teaching Macbeth.”

Senior Dustin Daigle reflected on the assignment and said, “I enjoyed reading the play out loud in class, and the Macbeth Wiki just brought it all together for me in a fun and memorable format.”

Students are already living every day with technology that was unimaginable even 10 or 15 years ago.

A class Wiki site can be a fun and easy way to bring teachers into that same world and get students more engaged in their own education.

The public may view the Wiki at http://macbeth2011.wikispaces.com/.

The Wiki is set so that only members may edit the pages, but anyone may view them.

The faculty and students at Andalusia High School wish to invite the community to view this Wiki and other exciting digital presentations at the DIP Expo.