Fifth graders have been creating a wiki site to keep track of the fantasy elements in their class novel, The Marvellers. This week, the students participated in the second annual ParaCon (Paragon Convention). Students were sorted into paragons (vision, sound, taste, spirit, and touch) and given specific roles to further develop and fine-tune the wiki. This event helped students to lean into the collaborative nature of the wiki, think more critically about the book and what information/format would be helpful for a reader, and see students building up more skills in HTML, site design, summarizing and synthesizing text, and designing for an audience. Students also enjoyed some convention perks like a keynote presentation from Headmarveller Skinner and vouchers for a shortbread stapier stick.
– Vaniecia Skinner, Amy Sprung, and Annie Fuerst