Parent Conferences
Tomorrow we are having Demonstration of Learning in my classroom and for one of the tasks I have asked students to post a comment on our class blog with their parents. I am really anxious to see how this will go over. I already have some parents who post on our blog. My hope is that this will encourage other parents to start as well. All the students have also created their own Voki which they are using to welcome their parents to our Demonstration of Learning – needless to say I didn’t have to ask twice for the students to complete this assignment!!
Students begun setting up their subscriptions this week. Most have subscribed to TSN and such. My goal is for them to start subscribing to sites that are relevant to the unit. This will be a natural movement for some, and not for others. We have been spending time on finding valuable internet sites that are reliable. However, I must admit that the students are much more aware than I was expecting. Their media intelligence is beyond my original assumptions. There are a handful of students wanting to start their own blogs after the break so that will be very exciting to watch and I will be sure to keep everyone aware of their progress.
On another note, some teachers in the school have begun blogging with the students and the students are over the top because of this. Today was a high because someone from South Africa was checking out our blog – the students were on a high!! (as was their teacher!)
Dave Bircher replied:
Sounds good. What are some of your secrets? I am trying to get others to use/comment on my class project. I have been “shopping” it around, but nibbles are slow. I will have to try to get staff to comment as well.
March 20, 2008 at 4:18 am. Permalink.
angiebalkwill replied:
@Dave Bircher – Well, as for secrets, not many, sorry! I told my students at the beginning of the unit that we are the best advocates for our blog and that the more people that blogged with us, the more we gain. So they were encouraged to share it with their friends, family. I promoted the blog by sending it to all my tech literate teacher (and non-teacher) friends. We have had great success so far. The kids love replying to adults! I have also tried to create tags for the blog that people might stumble upon more easily. I still want a larger audience so after the break I have a few school blogs that I have found and will have my students start blogging there – this should help spread the word!
March 20, 2008 at 1:10 pm. Permalink.
Rosanne replied:
It’s great to hear you and your students are experiencing success. I have also sent out our blog to tech/teacher friends. We are slowly getting off the ground. Great suggestion!
March 22, 2008 at 1:23 am. Permalink.
Leah Dewhurst replied:
So how did your demonstration of learning go?
What did the parents think of the blog?
Isn’t it a great feeling when other students from other countries start commenting on your blogs? My students loved it. It has also turned into a geography lesson as well.
March 23, 2008 at 2:28 am. Permalink.
angiebalkwill replied:
@Leah Dewhurst –Demo of Learning was great. It certainly showed me that we have a long ways to go in educating our parents in the use of technology. They would talk about the benefits of blogging but most were very cautious about posting a blog themselves. It was a start. All the feedback was very postitive though!
March 23, 2008 at 9:21 pm. Permalink.