The article (Zwalinski) I read today in class talked about four different uses of blogs within a classroom. They were used to share news with parents, mirror blogs (reflecting on one's thinking), showcase blogs (used to display student work), and literature response blogs (used to respond to literature in class). All of these were interesting uses of blogs in a classroom that had never crossed my mind. When trying to transfer what I read to my classroom I had difficulty thinking of uses.
While this was a challenge for me, I did think of two ways that I could use blogs in my class. I could use a blog as a method of keeping in touch with my students' parents. I already write in their school-to-home journals daily, and I talk to the parents on the phone at least twice a week. However blogging could provide a more time efficient manner of communication for both myself and the parents. Through a classroom blog I could let them know when field trips are coming up, or what permission slips need to be returned as well as a short note about how the day went in general.
I visualize getting more use out of a blog in my room through letting the parents know ahead of time about the units we will be studying in class. Most of my units are themed and focus on particular vocabulary. If I structured the blog well I could provide the parents with vocabulary to start using at home without providing any identifying information that would breach confidentiality based on IEPs.
For example:
The vocabulary I teach is tiered based upon difficulty and frequency of use in language. If the parents know what tier their child is on, I could then list the words for each tier without anyone knowing where the kids are other than the parents. I would not have to identify a specific child.
While this was a challenge for me, I did think of two ways that I could use blogs in my class. I could use a blog as a method of keeping in touch with my students' parents. I already write in their school-to-home journals daily, and I talk to the parents on the phone at least twice a week. However blogging could provide a more time efficient manner of communication for both myself and the parents. Through a classroom blog I could let them know when field trips are coming up, or what permission slips need to be returned as well as a short note about how the day went in general.
I visualize getting more use out of a blog in my room through letting the parents know ahead of time about the units we will be studying in class. Most of my units are themed and focus on particular vocabulary. If I structured the blog well I could provide the parents with vocabulary to start using at home without providing any identifying information that would breach confidentiality based on IEPs.
For example:
The vocabulary I teach is tiered based upon difficulty and frequency of use in language. If the parents know what tier their child is on, I could then list the words for each tier without anyone knowing where the kids are other than the parents. I would not have to identify a specific child.
I am curious about this possiblity of using a blog to let parents know what vocabulary to start using because this would save me about an hour and a half a week that I spend writing the information in their personal journals. I am going to explore this further, and hopefully start getting a blog set up.
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