Blogging In the Classroom

July 2009, I had the pleasure of attending the Technology In Education Conference at Copper Mountain where I listened to a keynote speech by Dr. Tim Tyson. I was motivated by his speech.

Many of us in the District are new to the blogosphere, and I wanted to share a few ideas he puts in his blog. One idea that I liked was his "Teacher in the Spotlight". In his spotlight on Mrs. Gayla Cockrell, third grade teacher, she talks about how she uses her classroom blog. I enjoyed looking at her blog, and her enthusiasm in her spotlight interview. Thus, I wanted to share how she stated she uses the blog with her kids.

In addition to the obvious uses (communicating upcoming dates and events, reminders, project due dates, test dates, etc.), I have found several ways to use our class blog to get the parents and students interested in it.

Some of my(Mrs. Cockrell's) favorites:

• Posting videos of class performances (readers' theater, presentations, etc.) so parents can watch them at home (even students have told me they watch themselves many times!)
• Polling students and/or parents about a specific question
• Homework assignments (Usually to read an article and then answer a question in the comments section of the blog entry--I want to keep assignments short & simple for my 3rd graders so they don't get discouraged)
• Posting a game where students can actually practice their multiplication facts ON my blog without going to another website—check it out!
• Posting links to websites for specific holidays or topics
• Recording videos of “how-to” step-by-step directions on my Smartboard and uploading them to the blog so parents and students can view the directions at home. (Obviously not everyone has a Smartboard, but you can also find videos on You Tube or Teacher Tube and do this same thing.)
• I know there are many more ways to use the blog, and I plan to incorporate it a lot more during the upcoming school year, but I didn’t even start my blog until April this past year! There are so many possibilities. (Information taken from the blog Pratical, Practical by Dr. Tim Tyson)

Personally, I like the music player on her blog. A few calming songs that can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. As a parent, I would love the opportunity to connect with my child's teacher and classroom.

If you are interested in creating a blog, wiki, ning, YouTube, polling, or any other idea, leave a comment or email me via District mail or call the high school.