Well, we are getting ready to finish up our first quarter of the 09-10 school year. I think it has been a great start of the year despite the little hiccups we have had along the way. We have felt some growing pains, shrinking budgets, and expectations for more gains when we are getting less support.
Our Teach 21 group and other technology groups are in full swing. If you have not checked out the teacher or class blogs, you really should. I just found out about one today and as I was reading it, I laughed so hard I was crying. I have enjoyed reading all the blogs I know about. The student responses are great and the insights from the teachers are amazing. I always knew we had a fantastic pool of talent. The blog is a great way to show it from our students to our faculty. If you are one who has a blog and using in your class, please let me know so I can let others know to follow it. I think it is important for the students to receive feedback when they post things. It encourages them to blog even more.
Our theme this year is " A Firm Foundation Builds A Nation". By using even the scant amount of technology we have in our building, you are helping your students develop a firm foundation that will enable them to build on their technological skills and be successful when using technology for more advanced applications later. We have Education City, which is up and running and ready to use. We have Rosetta Stone that is ready to use. We have Orchard and AR. We will also be using FirstinMath with our upper grades. This is a pilot program based of the math game 24. We are moving quickly to the more advanced technological equipment but we need to be comfortable in using what we have before we can become experts in using the new stuff.
Respond with some strategies that you have used with technology this year. Also, share some ways you have used Blogger with your class.
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I am continuing to use my blog I created last year. I am posting different topics for the students to respond to. Hopefully in 2nd quarter we can move in to the realm of letting the students be the post authors. Angie taught them how to save the blog as a favorite and lets them go on to it during the last 5 minutes of class each week. I sent the site home to parents and some of the kids get on the blog at their homes, as well.
ReplyDeleteIf you are not in Teach21, but are interested in making a blog, I'd be happy to help!
http://5thgradereaders.blogspot.com