Wikis and "Casting"

       I could definitely picture myself using wikis because it would allow me to connect to the parents and promote interaction between multiple classes. Wikis could however be useful for keeping parents in the loop and for collaborations between classes if led by the teachers. Wikis can be used for parents to sign up for parent conferences and other events. The new spelling words for the week can be posted on the wiki rather than sending paper copies home every week. The parents can list which spelling activities the students completed and provide screen shots of the online activities students completed if requested by the teacher. Teacher can post links to educational websites such as Starfall that parents can use with their children. Parents and children can add additional links to sites they come across throughout the year. In first grade students learn about plants and insects. They cover the life cycle of a butterfly so the class could create a wiki with the information they already know about life cycle of a butterfly and other classes could collaborate by putting their knowledge onto the wiki.

         At this point I do not know if I could picture myself using screen casting or casting of any kind. If I did screen casted a few times just to get comfortable with it than I could picture myself posting them on my wiki or website for my students to view. Off the top of my head I could picture screen casting to show parents how they can log on to the math and literacy websites that go along the programs. The parents often ask multiple questions about how to log in so by posting a screen cast of how to log in online they can go back to it as many times as they need to. Using wiki and casting meets the ISTE standards because it allows students participate in various learning communities and promote student reflection.