While researching and reading for this class, the question was posed about having a blog for my students and is that a good idea? While I like the fact that I get to play around in Blog land, I am not too sure about it for my students. My students range in grades K-6 and are under the age of 13. When a student is under the age of 13, the rules get pretty scary and a lot of parental permission is involved. If I had a high school class over the age of 13 I would not even bat an eyelash.
If I was going to set up a blog for my students, it would be more parent based. Many of my parents now have access to the internet and this would be a great way of keeping them informed of what was happening within the classroom. The content would be more focused on curriculum and how the students were doing as a whole. It would also give parents a heads up of future assessments, school activities, conferences, and include tips for getting parents more involved with their students (both in and out of school). I like to have parental involvement as much as possible.
Blogging is a great tool and one that more teachers should use. Who knows, maybe by the end of the eight weeks I'll have a parent based blog established.
A parents’ based blog site is useful. I created one for my children’s parents. The few that respond gives me an idea of what is on their mind and how they view the issue at stake. This helps me know how to address certain situations and what I need to do to educate them or learn from them. I have also thought about exposing my elementary children to blogging and the idea that came to my mind is to have parents participate with them at home as they get involved in their children’s learning. By so doing, there will be adequate parental supervision at home as I will when in school.
ReplyDeleteGirls, if you watched the video "Spotlight on
ReplyDeleteTechnology: Blogging in the Classroom" you probably noticed how blogging could be way useful developing different social and critical thinking skills. It really impacted me because now I see how this can be used appropriately for children under 13 years. Also, if we consider the security measurements that the article from last week "Expanding the boundaries" exposed, I think it can be very safe for our children, and, at the same time, they will begin very young how to use these tools that are changing the world in a very fast pace.
On the other hand, parents blog is a wonderful idea. What I would not have given to have this kind of communication available with my son's teachers. Communicating with teachers in the past was very difficult, now the lines are getting closer and this alignment among parents and teacher is probable the most important key for children success.
So, girls, do not be afraid of blogging. Just take the necessary measures and let your children create and express.
Naida,
ReplyDeleteThanks for advice and where find what we're all worried about. This is the exact problem I have.My county uses Edline and I am expected to post everything there. I have my own page so parents and students can see assignments, projects, and grades. My thought is: a blog is great for parents but I can't get my parents to check the program we already use. To communicate with parents, we use a phone system, Edline, student agendas, and good old fashioned letters and phone calls. Sadly, I'm not sure a blog would catch my parents' attention. But my students, they love somewhere new they can read and write to each other!
I just watched "Spotlight on Technology: Blogging in the Classroom" again and I think I would need to focus on my seventh graders. As a teacher, you would have to monitor the site continuously. I wonder is there are blog sites set up for children under 13?
ReplyDeleteShelley, check in edublog.com. I have not checked it further, but I think I saw that they give you the option to make limited access blogs there. That could be a choice. By the way, I will check that feature myself to be certain.
ReplyDeleteWe too have problems with parents checking teacher's website and returning a signed parent newsletter. I wish that there was a way all parents to understand how important that is. The biggest reason is, that it shows the student that the parent cares about what is happening at school. I too am worried that the parents would not check the blog or what their students were posting while at home.
ReplyDeleteHaving a place to communicate with parents about school updates and assignments is a great idea. I currently have a class wiki that parents and students can access at home. It provides them with links at home to practice certain skills as well as basic resources and notices such as stories we are reading. However,not all of my students have internet at home. Is this the same for you? My concern is that some parents will not have the same access to the blog as others will. What will you do for these parents to ensure they have the same access to the information posted on the blog? I think the best way to monitor what students post online is to change the settings on your blog so all posts must be approved by you before they are published to the blog.
ReplyDeleteShelby, I also have the same problem. I teach a 4th grade classroom and in my district there are a lot of perental restrictions on having students names and pictures on the internet. This makes having an running a blog with my students very tough. What I do have for my students is a classroom wiki page. The wiki page is only accessable to students and parents with an email and password that I set up and provide them in the beginning of the year. Our wiki page contains things like daily homework assignments(which is great for students who forget to write down their homework), spelling words, morning work, and activities to go with our current reading story. The students also have their own page within the wiki that they get to design the way they want. Here is where we do some blogging and talking with each other. The parents love the wiki because it helps to keep them informed on everything that is going on in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI actually just recently just used our classroom wiki page to talk to my students during the day while I was sick and had to take a few days off. The students loved it. It was almost like I was there in the room with my students helping them with problems.
I would do the same thing with my blog. Parental involvement is very important and this is a great way for the parents and kids to enjoy time together at home. I know that students would be excited to show their parents the new things they are doing in class especially if you post pictures of the kids with their work. One challenge may be getting all the parents to allow you to use the students names and picture. For the kids whose parents do not allow you to post names and pictures you will have to figure out how to blur their faces if they are in any group photos. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteI have started a simple blog for my first grade students so that I can get them comfrotable with using the technology. I really like your idea for a parent involvement. I think I may steal it ;).
ReplyDeleteHi Shelby, Parental involvement is so important, especially where the web is concerned. I love the idea of using the blog as a tool for building learning communities--for involving parents in the classroom experience.
ReplyDeleteA class blog might be a nice idea for young students--they write at a smartboard as a class--collaborating on the ideas and the posting.
Thanks for sharing.