I am reviewing the following three classroom blogs for my SLM 508 Module 1 assignment. I will be looking at the classroom blogs to determine educational, information, and creative qualities that teachers may consider to be valuable for classroom blogs. I will also be looking at the organization of each of the classroom blogs and I will determine whether I feel that the blog is organized efficiently and easily usable for other teachers. Since I am hoping to become an elementary school teacher, I will be looking at elementary school teacher’s classroom blogs for this assignment. I hope that you find my review’s helpful and informative.
The first blog that I visited to review is Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog. I loved Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog. I found her blog to be very thoughtfully organized and teacher friendly. I thought that it was great that she has all of her students included in her blog and that she has individual tabs where blog viewers can see each of her student’s work and progress within the classroom. Here is a link to one of her Individual Student Page-“Gus“. I found it to be very creative that Mrs. Cassidy has each of her student’s work organized into individual categories on her blog and that each of the student’s work can easily be accessed by the viewer of the blog for the main page.
Mrs. Cassidy has included videos and photographs of her students actively engaging in learning within the classroom on her blog. The blog is continually updated with posts about classroom activities and student learning in Mrs. Cassidy’s classroom. I found the videos and photographs included on Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog to be a great use of technology and a helpful way for blog viewers to gain an understanding of her students and classroom. Here is a link to Mrs. Cassidy’s post about Adding with Our iPads where Mrs. Cassidy has included a photograph on one of her students actively using an iPad to help him add.
I feel that Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog is also a great example of effective technology use by teachers and I feel that the blog is a wonderful place for teachers to visit for inspiration and to learn new instructional strategies from another teacher’s perspective. Mrs. Cassidy has included many educational resources and strategies that teachers can take and adopt to use within their own classrooms. The information on Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog about teaching strategies and her students is thoughtfully organized so that blog viewers can easily find out about the areas of her classroom that they find interesting.
Link to Mrs. Cassidy’s Blog: http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337&l=1339955755
The next blog that I found is Mr. C’s Class Blog. Mr. C teaches digital media and keyboarding at an Elementary School in Missouri. When visiting Mr. C’s classroom blog, you can initially tell that it is very well-organized and centered around using technology. I think that it is great that Mr. C has many options for students to contact him and ways to virtually ask him for help through options such as using Skype.
Mr. C’s Class blog explains why the use of technology in the elementary school is so essential for student growth and learning. The elementary school where Mr. C works seems to model technology use in the classroom very effectively. All of the classroom teachers at the elementary school have their own classroom blog’s where they can interact with students and share classroom news or information. I think that this is a great way of incorporating technology into the classroom and that it prepares students for their futures in a digitally run world.
One of the features that I found impressive on Mr. C’s class blog are the resources that he makes available to students. Mr. C has included links to student resources such as translators, search engines,online dictionaries and even the weather on his blog. As a future teacher, I know how important it is for students to have access to these types of educational resources both in the classroom and at home. I found Mr. C’s Class blog to be a valuable spot for teachers, parents, and students to share knowledge and to learn how to better use technology to enhance learning both inside the classroom and out. Mr. C’s student resources listed on his blog can help students independently conduct their own research for a school assignment whether they are in the classroom or accessing the blog from home.
Mr. C’s Class blog also includes a tab on the blog’s main page titled Digital Storytelling Tools where Mr. C provides tools for students to use when trying to determine how to digitally tell a story. Mr C has also included a tab titled, Keyboarding Links where students can click to find links to help them with their keyboarding skills and also fun games to help them practice their keyboarding, whether at home or in the classroom.
Mr. C’s Class blog is informative and both student and teacher oriented. It is easy to navigate and to find what you are looking for whether you are a student in his class or an outside teacher looking to find more insight about incorporating technology in the classroom. Mr. C also has several other educational blogs in addition to his classroom blog that can be accessed to provide additional educational resources and information for viewers.
Link to Mr. C’s Class Blog: http://mrcsclassblog.blogspot.com/
The third classroom blog that I looked at is Mr. Avery’s Classroom Blog. Mr. Avery’s Classroom blog is the most creatively organized classroom blog that I have reviewed for this assignment. The classroom blog includes pictures, videos, and samples of projects that the 6th grade students are working on. The blog also provides many options for students to interact with one another and also with their teacher, Mr. Avery. I found the blog to be very easy to navigate and appreciated the time that Mr. Avery must put into his blog to make sure that it is accessible to everyone. One way that the blog ensures access to people who speak different languages is by including a translator option at the top of the blog. The blog viewer can select from several language options and the contents of the website can be translated at the click of a button. Schools are increasing in language diversity daily and I think that including this option on the blog is a great way to ensure that all people, no matter what language they speak, have access to the contents of this classroom blog.
Mr. Avery’s Classroom blog includes an abundance of photographs and videos of students actively learning in the classroom. Here is a link to his section of photographs titled, Students at Work I like how he includes photos of students working on different assignments within the classroom. It is a great way for blog viewers to get a sense of what his classroom is like and what types of activities his students are working on. Mr. Avery’s Classroom blog also has tabs for videos of his students and I found his video’s of student run news teams to be my personal favorite. These Student News Teams are very creatively put together and the films are great evidence of technology being used effectively in the classroom. Here is the link to Video’s of News Team 4 where students are filmed reporting on different news highlights. I love this idea and when I have a classroom, I hope to do a similar activity with my students where they can be mock newscasters. Filming and posting the news videos on a classroom blog, as Mr. Avery did with his class, where people can see the students at work is such a wonderful idea and great use of technology.
Another fantastic inclusion on Mr. Avery’s Classroom blog is his Homework tab. This is where Mr. Avery posts students’ daily homework assignments. Here is a link to the students Homework section of the blog. I am glad to see a place on the blog where students and parents can access daily homework expectations for the classroom. Students in Mr. Avery’s classroom have access to their homework at all times. It is great because if a student is absent or forgets to write down their homework for the day, they have the option of checking to see what it is on Mr. Avery’s Classroom Blog. Parents can also use the Homework page on the blog to make sure that their children are completing their homework assignments on time.
Mr. Avery’s Classroom Blog is one of the best classroom blogs that I have visited. I feel that it provides the viewer with a comprehensive overview of classroom expectations, activities, and accomplishments. The blog is accessible to all viewers and I am glad to see that it accommodates for the diversity in language among viewers by providing access to the blog’s content in different languages. Making sure that all people have equal access to educational tools, such as Mr. Avery’s Classroom blog, is essential to facilitate educational success.
Link to Mr. Avery’s Classroom Blog: http://mravery.edublogs.org/
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