As a 4th grade teacher I would like to use a blog in my classroom as a tool to communicate with families and share with them the work we are doing in our classroom. Ultimately I would like to eliminate my weekly newsletter that students receive a hard copy of and sometimes their parents get it and sometimes they don't. Using a blog to communicate with families would help make sure both parents of students whose parents are divorced are getting the latest updates about what is going on in class. If a parent is out of town and a student is staying with relatives the parent can still stay up to date.
On the classroom blog I would post announcements, homework assignments, helpful websites, tutorial videos and upcoming events. I have looked into adding a calendar on my blog where I can add events but haven't found what I am looking for. Although I am currently sending this type of information home with the students it is often lost in the backpack or gets thrown away once it gets home.
Using a blog for communication with families is only doing something a different way--not doing something different. As I become a more familiar with blogging I would like to begin to do different things. One thing is to use the blog to showcase student work. I could post student writing samples, a great way to solve a math problem, or a myriad of other student work samples.
Ultimately I will have students blogging but need to figure out how to make this a reality with such limited technology at my school and the various technologies that students have at home. When I am able to get students set up as bloggers they will have an authentic audience and be able to receive comments and or feedback on their work. This will give some students an opportunity to respond to a question or topic that maybe they are not confident sharing verbally in front of their peers. Or those who take more time to process and think critically about a response will be able to do this through the use of a classroom blog.
Ultimately I will have students blogging but need to figure out how to make this a reality with such limited technology at my school and the various technologies that students have at home. When I am able to get students set up as bloggers they will have an authentic audience and be able to receive comments and or feedback on their work. This will give some students an opportunity to respond to a question or topic that maybe they are not confident sharing verbally in front of their peers. Or those who take more time to process and think critically about a response will be able to do this through the use of a classroom blog.
I really enjoy your idea about creating a classroom blog to keep families up to date on specific events happening and academic material being covered. Being a third grade teacher, I have often thought about creating some type of class website. One of the major challenges you may face would be the inability for certain families to access a computer on a frequent basis to read the classroom updates. There are also those families that still enjoy the tried and true paper copy, shirking away from technology themselves!
ReplyDeleteOne suggestion I have for you would be to put out some type of note or sign up at open house or parent/teacher conferences, giving families the option to still receive a paper copy of a newsletter. Of course parents can still access the website to peruse other materials, but having the option open may be more family friendly as it allows them to become more comfortable with the technology itself. You could even survey parents throughout the year, much like the poll you have created for this blog, asking them if they use the website frequently to receive classroom information or prefer the paper copies. Either way, the idea sounds great and best of luck!
I especially appreciated your comment about providing an opportunity for students who may take longer to process information. I never thought about it, but what a great idea. So often students, or adults, go home and think I wish I would have said...or I could have asked...
ReplyDeleteNow they can.
PS
The questionnaire about using a blog is great!
This blog is for 3rd & 4th graders. Thought you might be interested
ReplyDeletehttp://my-patio-poetry.yolasite.com/
Kristi, your online newsletter sounds like a great idea. You would probably still need to send hard copies home for those students who do not have access to computers or internet at home. As for the calendar you could possibly add one as an attachment. My school also has limited technology options for students. Blogs provide useful information and it would be nice to have these options available to students at school.
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea. I am sure that we can all relate to the problems of students putting information into the hands of their parents. Sometimes handouts make it home and sometimes even parents throw them away! Imagine that? I know that some of my parents are online, however quite a lot of my parents do not have computers. As mentioned above, I would still send home the hard copies for some families that may need them. It is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteKristi - I love the idea of using the blog as a showcase for student work. I pondered about this idea and thought that it would work well for my High School U.S. History students and a project I have them do every year.
ReplyDeleteAs we never seem to get past 1980 in our year I allow studetns to do a multimedia presentation on a 'modern' event. By using the blog as a showcase I could start the project at the beginning of the year and have them add to it as they go. Other students could comment on and make recommendations to their fellow students.