Russell Street School Blogging Impressions

After reviewing the Russell Street School's classroom blogs, I noticed the following:

  • Frequency of posting - Some classrooms posted very frequently (over 100 posts) and some classrooms have less than 10 posts. I would be curious if teachers were given time during the school day or after school in order to maintain the blogs. It appears that some teachers incorporated the blogs into their daily lessons with students and allowed the students to write some posts so that's partly why there are so many posts. I would be curious to know if parents of children in the classrooms that have less than 10 posts complained about a lack of activity on the blog.
  • Content - Content on the blogs ranged from pictures of student work, videos, photos of daily student activities, and class reminders/announcements. I personally would be nervous about posting photos with students' faces but maybe at Russel Street School, the parents have signed a photo release for students. It's a nice change to see the children's smiling faces in pictures and video since most school blogs I have come across usually have the blurred out or covered. I wonder if any parents have had issues with pictures of their child being posted on the public blogs and have asked for it to be removed.
  • Type of blog - Blogs for younger classrooms (ie: Little Einsteins and Bright Bugs) are teacher run, with the teacher posting all of the content. This is a great way to safely introduce the young students to blogging. I wonder if the students are aware that they have a classroom blog and if they are shown the content. This would just help to teach web etiquette and proper blog handing from an early age. As you look at the blogs for classrooms of older children, they transition to students posting some of the content alongside the teacher. Students create videos for the blog and post photos of their work. It appears that some parents frequently comment on the blog but there doesn't seem to be much interaction beyond that.
  • Types of entries - Throughout this course we've been learning about different types of blog entries (links, lists, guest posts, discussion, etc.). It appears that these blogs generally utilize the same type of post (picture/video with a description). I did not come across any posts that contained questions posed by the teacher that the students then answered in the comments. Maybe this type of blogging doesn't occur until the students are much older. For now, it appears that the blogs serve to merely keep parents informed about what is going on inside the classroom on a daily basis.
  • Blogging platform - It appears that teachers were able to select their preferred blogging platform. Some used Blogger and some used Seesaw. I had never heard of Seesaw before so I'm curious if it's an educational blog site similar to Edublogs. I liked that the teachers were able to give their blogs some personality and personal touches (headers, menus, etc) although some did look plain. It again makes me wonder if the teachers were provided some sort of professional development training to learn how to use these platforms and were given time to explore each one before deciding which would be best for them to use.

Comments

  1. PhilomenaJuly 29, 2018 at 10:47 AM

    After reviewing your comment on types of entries, I realized that you are correct. The format of the blogs is basically the same. That really did not stand out to me until I read your post. I also realized that the blogs were aimed at parental involvement and visibility in the a positive way, but had not really thought about what the format for the content. Great observation!

    Philomena :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maria GreenwoodJuly 31, 2018 at 10:37 AM

      Thank you! As a parent, I would appreciate the daily photos and updates but as someone outside the class I was hoping to see more variety.

      Delete
  2. Avery SchwendimanJuly 29, 2018 at 10:51 PM

    I think your idea of using the classroom blog as a way of teaching web etiquette is fantastic. If the students are posting in the blog and interacting with each other, it would be the perfect opportunity to help them learn to interact in positive ways online. Younger students could be introduced to good online skills also if the teacher used the blog as a regular part of the classroom experience. You had great insights!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maria GreenwoodJuly 31, 2018 at 10:56 AM

      The lack of web etiquette lessons for high school students makes me nervous to include blogging activities and the like in my classroom. If they were taught proper web etiquette from a young age than I think it would lead to a healthier and more positive online experience for them.

      Delete

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