The Guide to the Classroom Blog was very interesting! The possibilities about the use of blogging is infinite with possibilities. I would use this blog page to contact parents and distribute information about our classroom. I can keep them informed about student's assignment due dates, distribute important parent meetings dates and be able to communicate about current events. My only concern would be that not all parents or students families might have internet access or computers at home. So that would be a challenge to communicate with all my student's parents.
The option of blogging discussions with my students sounds fabulous!!! I would assign reading novel assignments and my students and I could be able to discus the readings and have two way conversations. I really think that the students would really enjoy to respond via email about our classroom assignments. That would be an encouragement option for them to read the novel in order for them to be able to respond via email to other classmates and maybe other classes in the building. Creating e-pals with other schools and student would also be an attractive option to increase reading participation in the classroom. Like the article mentioned this would give the shy/quite students in class feel more comfortable about speaking or participating in conversations since maybe in class they do not feel at ease. The blog would give them the opportunity to express themselves thru text since they would be able to reflect on their response instead of quickly answering questions in the classroom.
The demonstration aspect of blogging would open many opportunities for students to showcase their creativity. I think that maybe a good example of students using this feature would be to demonstrate their findings about their science projects or other research based assignments. Students would be able to showcase their academic digit portfolio about their findings and other classmates can view and learn from their fellow classmates. Students can share ideas with each other and collaborate for group projects from the comfort of their homes. I feel the possibilities are endless with this new technology forum that will make students authors and publishers of their own work.
You brought up a good point about not all parents having access to the internet. I think most of us take it for granted that everyone has internet access. Maybe for those students who do not have access, we could print out a few flyers of what was posted. The responsibility would be on the student to pick up flyers to take home, or the teacher can make a monthly phone to let parents know of upcoming events for the month. Either way, we would definitely cut down on the amount of paper we would use, and we would still be communicating with the parents.
ReplyDeleteI also think that blogging has endless possibilities for classroom usage. I loved the idea of posting everything online, this would save a lot of time. The fact that some parents don't have computer access never crossed my mind. I agree with susie that for those parents we can print out the weekly newsletter so they can be aware of any events. Another option of communication would be through telephone calls.
ReplyDeleteBertha,
ReplyDeleteYour idea of using blogs for creating e-pals with students from another school is one that I believe could greatly benefit all of the students at my school. At Jefferson High School our students struggle with the English content area, and as teachers we are constantly trying to figure out ways to help our students succeed within this particular area. A suggestion was made to incorporate vertical alignment with the teachers from our feeder school (Henderson Middle School), but finding a set time to do so has been an issue due to time constraints. I believe the use of blogs can help us solve this issue as we can have students from both Jefferson and Henderson collaborate with each other based on the English content they address in class. Being that they already know the students from Henderson, I think my students would take ownership to provide the best quality of work possible as they engage with their peers. Thank you for this idea; I will suggest it during our PLC meeting tomorrow morning!
Hi Bertha,
ReplyDeleteLike you I can see the various ways that blogs can be used in class and I also share with you the concern about not all parents having access to internet. At my school community, I know for a fact that many of our parents do not have access to internet, furthermore, many of our kids are being raised by grandparents who not only do they not have access to internet, but also don't know how to use these tools.
Bertha,
ReplyDeleteUsing blogs for demonstration, like you said, is an amazing way for our students to demonstrate their creativity. Creativity maintains engagement and one of the most effective ways for students to learn is from each other. Using this method also puts our students behind the wheel and gives them control of their education; it allows teaching to be more student centered which in turn makes our students more accountable and happy to take ownership of their education.
I really like your idea of having e pals and using the blog in different ways! For the most part, most students might have Internet access but there has to be some that don't. I think an option for those students is to access the blog from school. As teachers, we always get creative to do all we can for our students!!
ReplyDeleteHi Bertha,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the Demonstration part of your reflection. This kind of blogs open many options for students to improve their creativity and could be the key to close the education circle. In addition, an efficient implementation of blogs can give the teachers the necessary information not only to know more about the part where we are getting good results but also to know the part where we need to put more attention in order to elevate the education quality.
Jorge Villarreal.