Jill wrote the blog below. I too am a kindergarten teacher I love the idea of blogging about student work for all to see. My only concern for my school is that many do not have computer access but blogging would still be beneficial for teachers in my school and district. Jill I know we have talked about doing an activity between our classrooms and maybe this would be a way to connect the students together.
Blog, blog, blog…
My next web 2.0 tool of choice is the blog. Blogs can be different things to different people. But for my kindergarten class, and me I found a terrific blog site: 2,4,6,8, Meet me at the Garden Gate… (http://2468meetmeatthegardengate.blogspot.com/). The kindergarten teacher at this site uses her blog posts to show her students, parents and other teachers the wonderful things that are happening in Mrs. McMahon’s classroom. The educational benefits of sharing on line is win-win-win.
Students can feel a sense of pride in their work. They can use language skills to retell their family stories about their day. They can show their family who their friends are and describe special projects.
Parents can have a frame of reference to see what is happening in the classroom, learn about upcoming events, and practice skills their child needs extra help with. One of the biggest frustrations parents have is not feeling connected to their child’s educational experience. If a parent asks their kindergartener, “What did you do today at school?” more times than not, the answer is “nothing!” If a learner has a concrete picture to spark their memory, that child will be able to tell lots of stories about their day.
A big complaint from educators is a feeling of isolation in their school. Although there are many adults in a school, the time a teacher actually interacts with these adults can be very sparse. Between planning, teaching, meetings, and grading work, time to share ideas is hard to find. Due to funding cuts, teachers at my school do not even receive a duty-free lunch. By posting classroom content to a blog and reflecting on special events, teachers can connect to an online community. Due to blog comments, teachers can connect and share. By signing up to receive other educators’ blog posts, teachers can learn new ideas to use in their classroom.
I have signed up to receive Mrs. McMahon’s blog posts and look forward to joining the 21st century sharing via the web.
References
Mcmahon, J. (2009, September 26). Our Friends Across the Country. Message posted to 2,4,6,8, Meet me at the Garden Gate…:http://2468meetmeatthegardengate.blogspot.com/
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