My second grade students range from ages seven to nine. My students receive language arts, math, science, social studies, and even art instruction from me. Their abilities in and exposure to technology are all over the board. Regardless of the previously mentioned information I have found that this does not change their feelings towards technology implementation. Anytime we have a chance to use technology to assist in our learning there is a buzz in the room, a new found excitement for what we are about to do.
A blog is a diverse tool that can be utilized in a number of ways. My challenge is determining the best way to make it useful and meaningful for my population of students. Being that we do not have a full computer lab, or computers available to all of my students I feel the best implementation would be as a home extension. I would like to communicate to my students' parents the fact that I have a blog. I could use the blog as a form of communication with the parents of my students. A cyber newsletter. I could provide my students with extension activities. Possibly PowerPoints, videos, interactive websites, or other websites I would like for them to visit. I could encourage my students to make comments about the resources that I provide for them to check out. I could also spotlight some of my students work on the blog. It could be used to point out what quality work looks like. Essentially, the blog could be used to raise an awareness of what is being accomplished in the classroom and provide my students with extended opportunities to build upon what they learned in class. It's a chance to make a difference outside of the classroom.
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9 comments:
I think your idea is a great one. Connecting not only to the students, but with the parents as well. My only problem with this is that many of my students do not have internet access at home. We have a computer lab that we use for an hour each week. I also have 3 computers in my classroom. Maybe a good idea would be to find out which students do not have internet access at home and allow them more time using the computer in my classroom. I have not yet started a class blog, but I am anxious to get one started and use it mainly for journaling at first.
Matt, I feel that you have some great ideas about how to use blogs to connect with the families of your students. The problem that I anticipate would be the lack of computers or internet access in student households. I have experienced this personally at the school I am currently teaching at. This school is very different than the afluent school that I taught at last year. I had a teacher website that I updeated with information that parents needed to know and it was visited often. This year, the parents have shown that they rarely read the weekly newsletters that I send home and have little desire to visit my teacher website. I would suggest that you overcome this obstacle by doing the things that you suggested...keep them interested with videos, links, and other interesting things. I really hope that you are able to use a blog to keep in constant contact with your students' families. Your optimism and great ideas make me want to update my teacher website and give it another try.
I was thinking a way that you could overcome the problem of not having internet access in student homes is to send home a newsletter containing the same information. Parents could also access your blog at the public library for no charge.
I have found that there are families that lack a computer in the home. Some of those that do are without internet access. This does prove to be a challenge. Most of my ideas would be useful for those more fortunate families. If I am to get real serious about students using my blog it would be worthwhile to try to find time for my less fortunate students to get some blog time at school. I have found that I can send newsletter copies of my blog information home to families. The blog is nice because it is always there and can not be lost. It is also a reality that some families depend on written newsletters, so I have had to find ways to make these available. Thanks to all for the wonderful insights!
Matt, I say try it out. If the kids get involved and interested, trust me, they will find a way to access the internet. I teach in the Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest areas in the nation, but I have learned that students are resourceful.
Does your school have an after-school program? If so, the students could use that time to work on the computers.
I really like that you have been able to come up with some ideas to use with the younger students. I teach third grade and I am struggling to see what to do with them and blogging. How would you handle how slowly they are able to type? Do you have access to many computers so that they can all be working at the same times - or at least in partners? These are two problems that I wrestle with when I consider having my students blog and show their work. Do most or all of your students have computers at home so that they can access the blog there?
It is great to see the enthusiasm that is generated by involving technology. Due to the struggle to parnter up a child with a computer, how easy or difficult is it for you to gain access to the computer lab? Is the lab available once weekly, twice? I have found that becuase of the time constraints in computer labs, some children are unable to finish in the allotted time which causes feeling of inadequacy or frustration.
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