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= St. Matthew Catholic School media type="custom" key="6332219" align="left"media type="custom" key="6332259" align="right" = =Welcome to your ever-expanding wiki! ** Getting Started... ** This is a new and exciting way to communicate and share the fabulous things you will do in middle school this year! [|Wiki's] are interactive web pages that allow you as a user to add, delete or modify content within them. As an educational tool, wiki's provide unique opportunities to collaborate on the learning process. This wiki will become our default "control room" in a communication context; our forum to share ideas about what we're doing in class when we're not in class.=

Need Help? **Don't worry...** this is new so it will take time to get used to the process. Over the course of the year you'll become experts at using the wiki. It's fun and provides you a new way to learn how to use technology to share ideas, present your work, view other's work and stay in touch with your learning. **Check below for tips, tricks and instructions on how to make your wiki user experience the best it can be. Good luck!**

**//ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS!//** Now that you're getting accustomed to using the MAIL function, it's time for an etiquette lesson. E-mail should be used to send an appropriate message to a friend or teacher... e-mails that say //"Is anybody on the wiki?"// and such things are fine if you're just trying to learn how to use the system, but once you know how to use e-mail properly, your messages should have relevance, that is, they should be designed for a purpose... to ask a question about school assignments, to communicate on a group project, or to seek information about what's going on the next day at school, for example.
 * // RE: Using the E-mail function appropriately and purposefully... //**
 * Here are some questions to ask yourself before posting an e-mail message:**

1. Does my message have a purpose that's related to school? 2. Would I feel comfortable speaking this message in front of my teachers or parents? 3. Is my message communicating ideas and/or information as opposed to just "[|chatting]?"


 * //If you can answer YES to all three questions above, then its a good chance your message is appropriate and acceptable. If you can't answer YES to all three questions, don't send your message because it's likely inappropriate in the context of this wiki.//**

Discussion forums are different than e-mail messages. Discussion forums are like on-line classroom conversations. Good discussion forums may look something like the following examples:
 * // RE: Starting Discussion Forums on the wiki... //**

- You can pose a question about a school topic for your fellow wiki members, and then wait for their responses. - You can ask for people's opinions on work you have done and posted for their review. - You can tell your wiki friends about something in school you're interested in, and then ask them to join in a conversation about that. - You can ask wiki friends for help with homework... e.g. //"I've been trying to find information about what makes wind, but I'm stuck. If anyone has some insight into how wind is made, I'd like to hear from them."//

1. Does my discussion forum topic have a purpose that's related to school? 2. Would I feel comfortable speaking about this forum topic in front of my teachers or parents? 3. Is my discussion forum topic designed to communicate ideas and/or information as opposed to just "[|chatting]?"
 * The questions you ask yourself before posting a discussion forum topic are very similar to what you ask yourself about potential e-mail messages:**


 * //If you can answer YES to all three questions above, then it's a good chance your discussion forum topic is appropriate and acceptable. If you can't answer YES to all three questions, don't post your discussion forum topic because it's likely inappropriate in the context of this wiki.//**