Welcome to Wanted: Global Citizens! This wiki has evolved to meet the needs of technology trainers and teachers in Cabell County Schools. Visit the Teacher Resource page and access links to brief tutorials and general information that will help you painlessly integrate the use of technology in your classroom. These can be downloaded or printed for your personal use. If you are in attendance at a Professional Development training, visit the Staff Development page to find links for registration and evaluation. Please feel free to join this wiki so that you may share your resources and knowledge with the other members and users of the site!

A well designed wiki can help to foster positive relationships among students, teachers, parents and colleagues in your school and across the district. Research shows that communication among these groups has greatly influenced success in schools across the nation.

In particular, parental involvement in schools increases the academic and behavioral performance of their children. A child's readiness and success in school, school attendance, and positive attitudes toward education are among the benefits for establishing healthy relationships with the parents in your community (Abdul- & Farmer, 2006).


You can use your wiki to provide students with access to web sites that correlate with your specific curriculum. As the year progresses, you can add or delete links that meet the needs of your students.

Additionally, teachers can upload attachments from your computer's hard drive. Students and parents can access these documents at any time on their home computer. For example, you may host information for a class project, printable spelling lists, enrichment activities, lesson plans, etc.

If you wish to provide access for your students to edit the wiki, make sure to give them specific guidelines and responsibilities. Students should be able to participate in a secure manner, with a username that does not disclose any personal information that could lead to undesirable outcomes. For example, you could use the first name only, a generic username such as Student1, group them as teams ie. Skittles, Hersheys, Reeses, etc. You may wish to designate a specific page which students may work collectively to create and edit. Your class may work to create a page for a variety of class projects including:

• Reading and literacy activities
• Creative writing
• Math skills and problem solving
• Science experiments and discoveries
• Field Trips
• Classroom Government

You absolutely need to inform your parents of your classroom wiki. You may wish to send home a letter with an opportunity for comments or feedback. Include a written disclosure such as the following, "Please note that your child will not be identified on the classroom wiki, but if you do not wish for your child to participate, please inform the teacher by writing a letter of request."

Some ideas for communicating with parents through a classroom wiki could include a link to your school E-mail address. Inform parents that they may contact you through this address at any time and for any purpose. You may also wish to attach a file that contains your school calendar. Parents can view this calendar at any time and even print it out if they choose. Your parent partner should have the file available for you to save on a portable device, such as a jump drive. Simply save it onto your computer's hard drive and upload as an attachment.

If you wish to provide access for your parents to edit the Wiki, make sure to give them specific guidelines and responsibilities. You should be able to discriminate who is editing this page, but assign a username that is anonymous to the public. This is an excellent opportunity for offering parent training at your school. You may wish to designate a specific page in which parents can work collectively to create and edit. Your parents may work to create a page for a variety of purposes including:

• Homework tips and ideas
• Managing home, school, and sports activities
• Making the most of weekends
• Encouraging healthy habits
• Internet safety and ethics
• Websites for parents

Depending on the opportunities for collaboration in your school, you and your colleagues may find it helpful to set up a wiki for teachers, administrators, and other staff members. You could place a link from your school webpage, just as you will for your classroom wiki, and use the format for purposes including:

• Book studies
• Curriculum planning
• Project communication
• Calendar events
• Classroom Management: Ideas for establishing positive classroom climate
• Websites for teachers and school administration