The utilization of a blog in my
prekindergarten classroom would serve a purpose of showcasing work to families
and members of the community.
Prekindergarten is a school year that consists of much growing and
changing. Since many families enjoy
learning about what their children are doing in the classroom, I have chosen to
use our class blog as a publishing tool.
Richardson (2010) mentions that “The true potential of blogs in schools
comes when students and teachers use them as publishing tools” (p. 43) As the students demonstrate skills in the
content areas as well as technology, social, and life skills, I would upload
descriptions, pictures, and videos of these events.
Another use of the blog would be for
families and members of the community to comment on the blog posts, which would
provide real world communication for my students. One example of a meaningful blog post would
be for my students to perform a reader’s theater skit on video. The video would be posted to the blog. We would write a letter as a class asking our
third grade reading buddies to watch the video.
I would ask the teacher of that class to have her students, either as
individuals or as a class, respond to our skit.
Our class already communicates frequently thorough a paper mailing
system through the school. Communicating
through a blog would be helpful for both classes to gain a better understanding
of the purpose of a blog. Each time a
blog is posted, I would send a note home to the parents and encourage the
students to go to the blog at home after asking their parents. Fisch (2007) produced a video with the
following quote:
According
to former Secretary of Education Richard Riley…the top 10 jobs that will be in
demand in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004. We
are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist…using
technologies that haven’t yet been invented…in order to solve problems we don’t
even know are problems yet.
Since
future jobs and job skills are unknown, teachers need to ensure that students
have the understanding of how current technologies operate. Also, teachers should foster an interest in
using multiple technologies in order to guide the students to grow with
technology. Given the opportunity to use
the technology will allow students to become more comfortable with and excited
to use available technologies.
References
Fisch,
K. (Producer). (2007, February 8). Did you know? Shift happens [Web
Video]. Retrieved
Richardson,
W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for
classrooms (3rd
ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
You know, as a high school teacher, I am often really totally unsure of how feasible it is to bring tools like blogging down to the elementary level. However, I am thrilled to see that you feel it would be appropriate to expose such young students to this kind of technology. For those of us at the high school level, this means we can count on the idea that students long ago familiarized themselves with these methods of communication and that we can therefore go ahead with more advanced strategies and projects (as opposed to spending whole class periods teaching seventeen-year-olds how to create an account on Blogger, for example).
ReplyDeleteI also love that you want to use the blogs to have different grade levels communicate with each (fostering empathy and teamwork and providing them with an authentic audience). And I wholeheartedly believe in inviting parents and the community "in" to the classroom as much as we can, even and especially by virtual means. So I am thrilled to hear that you want to "show off" the kids' work in that way as well!
Awesome ideas and thanks for the insight on your grade levels!
Thank you. One of my goals as a teacher of such young students is to provide the students with skills they will need to use technology. At my school, students as young as kindergarten begin to present displays using digital media. What good would I be doing them if I neglected to teach my students the fundamentals of the technology available at our school? They may not have distinguished reading and writing skills, but they can show what they are learning through pictures and videos. I try to encourage using technology as much as possible in attainable and engaging ways.
DeleteAshley,
ReplyDeleteI think your idea to use a blog as a way to display your students' work to their parents is a wonderful way to establish a connection with families. I know as a parent, I am always appreciative when teachers communicate with me and show me what my son is accomplishing. If that doesn't happen, you feel like you're in the dark and wonder, what are they doing in that class?
You also commented on the fact that we are preparing our students for future jobs and technologies that we don't even know exist. I brought up a similar point tonight in response to a classmate's post. I mentioned that tech colleague's have made comments to me such as, "don't worry, by the time these kids enter the workforce, they will be using a totally different technology" and it left me feeling a futile. However, your post really put things into perspective for me. We are here to teach kids how to think and build self-efficacy. If they are learning how to use new and different technologies throughout their school careers they will build on that and believe that they can in their work careers. When I think back to where I have come from with technology, and how I have kept up with it (unlike some of my friends my age - 50's)that should have been a no-brainer. It doesn't have to be the exact technology, my God I was using punch cards in college and telex machines in the early 80's and I've been able to keep up.
The only thing you will need to look out for with your blog plan is releases for the kids in the videos. Your school district usually has parents fill that form out in the beginning of the school year. The one that gives (or doesn't) give permission for their child to be in a video. I also know that some blog websites are password protected, which would probably be a good idea and instead of sending a flyer home, you could email parents that have emails. Also, some blogs will automatically email the parents when there is a post or they could use feeders. Good Luck!
As a grade level, we created our own photo release for that included information about our blog. We got the form approved by the principal. Some parents may not understand that the photos are visible to anyone on the Internet, if given the link to the blog. We made sure to explain the blog to the parents. Luckily, I have never had a family opt out of posting pictures. Many families are excited about seeing pictures posted on the website. I communicate with the parents to let them know when the blog is updated.
Delete