Wednesday, January 11, 2012

And Now I Find Myself Entering the Blogosphere...

I am the Gifted Support Teacher for grades K-12 in my school district. I believe that the best use of a blog for me would be as a class portal and online filing cabinet.  The biggest benefit for me is the control that I will have over what gets posted and when it is posted.  There is a link on our district website for my Gifted program, but if I want anything published on it, I have to submit it to our technology person and wait until he gets around to uploading it.  With a blog, I will be able to post things at my convenience without concerns over whether it will be uploaded in a timely manner.  I plan on implementing a Gifted blog where I can post pictures and videos from recent competitions and events in which we have participated.  This way, parents and the students can be kept up to date with what is going on in G.A.T.E.  I would also like to have the students post a description of their experiences, tips, and advice for the different events and competions where other students can comment.  With the search feature on the blog, students in future years will be able to search the posts of past years to get an idea of what to expect going into a new event.  I could also list links to resources for the parents and students to access at home.  I like the idea of the online community that it will create that will incorporate the parents of my students, my students, and myself.  In a broader application, we could include other Gifted students from other schools...oh, the possibilities!
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. DNadlonekJanuary 14, 2012 at 8:55 AM

    I agree with you that a blog is much better to use because you will have complete control over it! I like your idea about posting pictures and videos from events your students compete in, but just remember you (which I am sure you already do) need to make sure that you have parent permission.

    I think your idea to have students reflect on competitions for students in the future to refer to is great! It reminds me of when teachers would have their current 5th grade class (or insert any grade) write a letter to the incoming 5th graders to tell them what to expect. I think your incoming and new G.A.T.E. students would appreciate having a resource to go to in which they can see all the exciting things they will be doing. It would be great too, if your G.A.T.E. students that have moved on still participate! One piece of advice I would give is to make sure you organize your postings so they are easy to find. I am new to blogging and find the one area I am having difficulty in is how I would like to organize my archive. I have been rethinking some headings I have given my postings because I may not know what they are just by what I have named them. Overall, I think you are off to great start! I can’t wait to hear if you able to implement your ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. WindsbreathJanuary 15, 2012 at 9:47 AM

    I think this is a great idea. Maybe you could also use the blog as a way for students to discuss the assignments that they are currently working on. We know that collaboration is very important. We do it all the time in our Master classes.
    I think you have a great way of controlling the ideas that you need for your class!! Great job!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)