Using Blogs to Communicate

I think blogs could be a great way to communicate with parents and students throughout the year. If I kept a blog for my class, I could blog regularly about the things we were doing in class. I could have a student friendly blog which would recap some of the things we were going over in class throughout the week. Students could access this during their free time in class as well as at home. They would be able to review some of the material that they may not have gotten during class. It would be a great way to refresh their memories. I could also link the students to other blogs or web pages where they could find additional information about topics we have been covering. The blogs would also be a great way to communicate with parents. I could update the blog about the things we are doing in class and inform parents of upcoming events. If parents had questions, they could simply comment on a blog post and I could respond. It also allows the parents to be in touch with other parents. I think it would be a great way to keep parents informed and to ask for help when I would need it!

I think blogs could also be used for students with special needs. The blog would offer a way to differentiate. Like I said earlier, a blog could be used as a review for students who are behind for any reason. I could also use a lot of visuals for my ESL students. For gifted students, a blog could be used as an extension activity to keep them engaged. If I had a student with more of a physical special need, blogs could be useful. If a student was deaf, they would be able to see certain material typed out. Also if students were blind, they could use a computer program to read the materials to them. Not only could our class blog be used to help students with special needs, we could also access many different blogs about different subjects.

Since my last blog, we have talked about PowerPoints in class. I have a lot of experience with PowerPoints but I enjoyed learning about the ways to make an effective PowerPoint. I think I knew most of those things but it is always nice to have a reminder. I hate when people read everything from the slide and so that is something I always keep in mind when making a PowerPoint. I think PowerPoints can be very effective in the classroom. I don't know how often I would use it in the lower elementary classroom but I think they would be very useful as students got older and more advanced. I think PowerPoints should be used sparingly in the lower elementary classroom.