Richardson Chapters 3 and 4

I have to admit that for the first time taking these grad classes, that I read ahead in the book!  I usually barely manage to get the required reading done on time, but this time I wanted to learn more about blogs!  I read chapter 3 last week to get more ideas of how to use blogs in my classroom.  I am excited to get one started to communicate back and forth with parents.  I also think that a blog would work well in the book clubs that we are doing in Readers' Workshop to promote discussion among the members. I had a fun time talking with a former colleague about her blog, Mrs. Glidden's 2nd Grade - News from Room 11, and got some great ideas from her too.

Richardson Reading - Chapters 1 and 2

I didn't realize the technology available to educators until I started this class.  I agree with Richardson that it is important for teachers to incorporate these technologies into their teaching and classrooms. The world is changing around us yet education has been slow to react to incorporating technology.  I hadn't thought about the different way that students communicate outside of school (using technology) compared to how we expect them to communicate their learning in the classroom.  Since I teach second grade, I didn't put much thought into how the world for my students is a lot different outside the classroom. Teachers need to give students the skills to analyze and manage the technology that they will encounter in the real world outside of school.  The act of blogging can go a long way toward teaching skills such as research, organization, and the synthesis of ideas. (Richardson 2010)

I am excited to try a classroom blog to communicate with the families of my students.  I looked at the Meriwether-Lewis Elementary School site and liked how each teachers had a link to a blog with some quick updates of what happened in the class that day.  As a parent, I know I would be interested in seeing a quick blurb about my children.  As a teacher, it seems that once you get the hang of it, that it is not very time consuming to maintain.  I can also see how using a blog to promote discourse and critical thinking among book clubs would be beneficial to students.  We are working on book clubs in Readers' Workshop and students could share their ideas by blogging.  Readers' Workshop is new for our district this year.  A wiki would be useful for all the teachers of the same grade in the district to share materials and teaching ideas on each of our new units.  I am curious to see how the parents in my classroom respond to a blog.  Are they clueless about blogs like I was before this class or are they blog savy and will respond and participate?  I am predicting that the students will be commenting more than the parents!

One area that I think is important to cover with the students when using technology is safety.  They need to be taught what information is appropriate to share.  I also have to find out about my district's policy about blogs and what information I can post.  I am curious how other teachers handle this.  Is there a permission slip that parents need to fill out about the students before I can include them on the blog?