My first how- to -video!

So last week while we were on Spring Break I had the opportunity to create not only my first real video, but also create my first Wiki. I used the screen recording device Screencast o matic. I was a bit worried about this project at first. Not only have I only recently been introduced to Wiki's but I have never made a video where I am not looking into the camera and speaking. First I conducted some research about Wiki's for English as a Second Language. I had to keep in mind that the students I will be teaching English to, will only just be beginning their English language careers. So I decided that any Wiki I will make will need to remain simple and have valuable resources. I looked at teachers who were American and were or are currently working with students in another country. I found one particular Wiki from A man named Michael Griffin who works with Korean students. His wiki includes many many resources for his students to use along with a list of commonly made mistakes. I knew I wanted my Wiki to contain resources that were specifically geared towards middle school age, German speaking students. I made a very simple Wiki for this video project. The creation of the Wiki could not have been easier and the navigation panels on the side of the Wiki are really easy to use. Iw as able to add several pages to the Wiki such ass Assignments, Writing etc. See my Wiki here.  I think that using this Wiki will be a great way to reinforce what I do during the day with my students. If I keep the language simple on the Wiki and have a tutorial on how to use it, much like the video I created, then I think it could be successful. My video can be seen on Screencast o matic's site. It was easy to sign up for this recording site and the directions for how to set your volume, arrange the screen and navigation my presentation were very easy to follow.

Learning how to use this screen recording device was an excellent experience for me. It will be interesting to see how I can use it in my future classroom in Austria. It would be a really great thing if I was able to put these videos on the Wiki and give my students even more reinforcement!