Thursday, February 8, 2007

It doesn't matter when the bell rings, students can learn 24-7



These teachers have been using blogs in thier classroom in Frederick County, Md.

Check out this link :
Web Logs are the New Bulletin Boards

This has plenty of great examples of why blogs are useful to a K-12 Classroom. Students blogged their reaction to a field trip, displayed art projects, showed mathematical solutions, and gave feedback to the teacher quickly. I am enamored by the fact that they are low maintenance and that students will put more work into an idea because they it will be read by the teacher as well as their peers. Also, students mormally quiet in the class will come alive with a keyboard.

Here is another website giving great ideas about classroom blogging.
PBS Teachersource

Some teachers believe it is a good idea to leave the post anonymous. I'm not sure I agree with that, but it might be useful if problems were to arise. Discussing literature on blogs vs. in class would be much better in higher grade levels. Many more ideas could develop about symbolism, themes, etc. There are listed several programs that can be used to blog and links to useful websites. I love the idea of Summer Reading Blogs. That way you will know the student is comprehending the material and that they are actually doing the assignments.
Here is the man that taught me so much about reading and probably inspired me to be a teacher.I'm sure Levar Burton is pro-Blog.
Reading Rainbow was the Schiznit back in the day!
(Yes I am aware that I am a huge nerd).

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Bla, Bla, Blog


I can't believe it's already February. I'm glad I got the opportunity to learn about blogging and actually participate in this. I can see blogging to be useful in the classroom. It would be a great tool to recieve feedback from students and parents. Being in a classroom all the time can be isolating as well. A blog is a great way to share teaching techniques and experiences.For a blog to be negative, drama and gossip queens might slander authority ; children could be immature on their choice of subjects. I checked out some other blogs and found out a lot of people love to run their yapper about all kinds of personal things. To use a blog when more communication is needed in institutions,such as schools, is a great thing. I believe it is the future. All I'm saying is ...I don't want to know about some girls' designer dog that poops on the floor and she's too wuss to clean it up.