Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Russell Street School Blog: Amy Simon's Thoughts

My first impression of the Russell Street School Blog was that it wasn't really a blog - it looked like a regular school website at first glance. When I started doing a little exploring, I just felt that it was a great tool for that community. I especially like Room 12's blog. Students drew the logos for the blog site banner and a student blog was featured weekly in a Blog of the Week selected by the teacher. The student blogs were used in a similar fashion that I hope to use with my students this year. The kids posted their own work and shared a little bit about it. Other students were then free to comment on the work. This way of showcasing work not only builds an electronic portfolio, but it also allows student work to be more meaningful giving them an audience. (I'm sure parents love seeing their child's work displayed, too!) I also really like the collaboration piece that comes in when students share ideas with each other and learn from viewing their peer's work.

I love all of the athletic team blogs. This is a great way to share highlights of what the student athletes are doing. I think it's great to have all of the links for parents. I just feel this is a great way to keep parents informed of what is happening in the school. I am amazed at how much useful information is on the blog.

After seeing this, I can envision myself setting up a class blog this year in addition to allowing students to create their own blogs. I like the idea of being as transparent as possible with my families. I also think it's great to give students an audience for their work, and to get used to giving and receiving constructive feedback. I'm sure I will be referring back to this blog for ideas as my journey with blogging continues!

3 comments:

  1. Amy, it is interesting that you highlight how the blog was used to highlight many of the general school activities. This is not something that we really look at in this course, but how a blog could be used as the public face of the school and the activities of its various co-curricular and extra-curricular functions.

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  2. The athletic team blogs are really cool! I think this is such a good idea. Again, I am so impressed with all this blog has to offer.

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  3. Jenni, my first thoughts was that this looked like a website too! I'd like to try many of the ways this school has integrated blogging, it is engaging and interactive.

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