Good evening classmates,
One way I was thinking blogs could improve my teaching is with my communication with parents. I teach 4th grade and have often contemplated writing a weekly newsletter to families about the goings on in the classroom. In my district 4th grade is still in the elementary school and parents want to be kept as up to date as possible. Using a blog for this is not only environmentally friendly, it also allows me to post at my convienence and provide videos, links to appropriate student blog sites, and a way for parents to ask questions or respond.
I also like the idea of a student showcase. As noted in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, blogs are best used as a publishing tool. (Richardson, 2009 p.43). So often students work on writing pieces or projects with only a teacher or few classmates as an audience. A blog allows for an extended network for an audience. I am a little nervous about confidentailtiy with this and was thinking about the logistics of pairing up with a buddy class to share or post comments to. I believe this would be a new concept for my school and would need to get written approval from the parents and administration support to maintain student safety (Richardson, 2009 p.46).
Many of my students are hesitant writers and it is an area my district has struggled with. I could see students being motivated by posting on a blog, receiving feedback to their writing, and replying to each others responses (Richardson, 2009 p.46).
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Excellent ideas you have here! I teach 3rd grade and was thinking the same thing about newsletter and blogging going hand in hand. I think one challenge you might face is blogging being banned or blocked from school. In my school district most blogging sites are blocked. You aren't even able to log into a blog site to create one. I think one thing we have to do (at my school) is push for the district to see the benefits in blogging and understand that we can keep our classroom blogs private so that only students and family members will be logging into see the content. this will also help with students privacy and confidentiality issues.
ReplyDeleteI would also like having a blog to keep parents informed, and as you am afraid of students’ confidentiality. Their safety is very important to me and I know I have some great listeners, but there is always those that do not want to follow the rules.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea of using a blog to post a newsletter instead of using so much paper. I may have to steal your idea. A problem I think you may have is not all parenst may have access to a computer. If you teach at a school like I do, many parents don't. You could find out who has access and who doesn't and just send home a printed copy to the homes that don't have a computer.
ReplyDeleteNow that you all mention it, I cannot even search using the word game through my school. It gets blocked immediately. I am guessing I will have similar trouble blogging. I wonder if there is a similar application that teachers can use that is less public than blogging or something school districts could subscribe to. It is a great communication tool because as educators we do not have the flexibility to talk to parents on the phone during the day that often. I plan on talking to my computer teacher to see if she has any recommendations when school begins again.
ReplyDeleteCourtney, I think you have some great ideas flowing. In our modern world, most parents don't want to get another piece of paper to end up who knows where in the house unread. In my school system, even student grades from our electronic gradebook are e-mailed to parents each time we update. I think having a class blog for communication and interaction is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteBeing a special ed teacher I think using a computer to type assignments can be a big motivator. Even my regular ed kids hate to write, but they all love to be on the computer. Being able to type a blog is a motivator and modification all in one. Voila!
I do understand about confidentality. There are ways to secure the site so that you have "lordship" over it and can monitor and filter comments and entries as you see fit, so that may ease the minds of administration and parents.
-Mary Beth-