Saturday, September 24, 2011
Blogging in the Classroom
After only a few weeks in this class, I have to say that I am truly excited and inspired by what I have learned so far. I have used a blog in my classroom for the past 3 years, however I am learning so much more about how they work and what I can do with them. I think blogs are a great way to communicate information with parents at home. Especially for primary students, the parents are more interested in what is happening everyday in school then anything else. The blog that I have for my class allows me to show the parents exactly that. I can post updates about fun lessons and activities, pictures, and videos to share with families at home. The parents can comment on things that they found interesting or helpful, and the kids even enjoy commenting too. I use the blog instead of a website because there is little information that I feel stays the same in the class- I don't have to post about rules or homework assignments, etc. So the blog allows me to give parents what they want- a window into the class. I love that blogger gives you an opportunity to create multiple pages, which makes the site feel like a website anyways. I'm excited to continue to learn more and see what I can integrate into my own classroom and on my class blog.
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Heidi,
ReplyDeleteI use a website created through google. It often reminds me of a blog more than a website. I like the idea of having a blog to keep the parents up to date. It is good to have another teachers opinion.
Thanks!
Brittany
Interesting point about blogs being useful for changing information rather than static material. I also use google sites-- which is kind of a hybrid- partly a wiki because it allows and tracks multiple versions by differnent authors and partly a website for most is static info. But it invites comments, so is blog-like, too. We should bring some of this up with the whole class.
ReplyDeleteThank you for inspiring me to use blogging in the classroom. It is nice to see someone use blogging for educational purposes instead of talking about themself. You have given me the confidence to try to get away from newsletters and emails to parents. (Something I struggle with.) Providing parents with a bird's eye view of the classrom through blogging would be AWESOME! We do so much cool stuff in Kindergarten that it is hard to share it all with the parents. You have inspired me to look more deeply into this subject and give it a try with my own classroom. Thanks for sharing it me!
ReplyDeleteHeidi,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you described blogging as a window into the classroom. It is so important for parents to be involved with and informed about their child's education. Communication is most likely going to be the most successful use of blogging for your purposes, since kindergarten students won't be doing peer reviews and class discussions. However, I think that kindergarten is such a fun interactive age, and there is so much that you can show parents through a blog. It is also a great way to go green and keep up the communication.