Classroom Websites

This week we were required to create a website (https://sites.google.com/a/slcs.us/joslin/) using Google Sites.  While this isn't my favorite website maker, it was something that I could easily picture using.  Last summer I was preparing to teach a brand-new grade, and wanted something to help communicate better with the parents.  I decided to go onto Google, since I'm known for loving all things Google, and began to create and design my own website for our classroom.  I quickly got frustrated with it, and instead went to Weebly to create my classroom site (http://msjoslinsclass.weebly.com/).  While I know that this assignment requried the use of Google, my preference is honestly Weebly.

Having a classroom website is something that parents really appreciate having.  It allows me to post updates on classroom activities, homework requirements, etc.  I also use it as a classroom blog, where the students are responsible for posting pictures to update parents on all the fun activities that we do!  Having a classroom blog takes time for updates, but it is a great communication tool!

Cone of Experience and Computer Imagination

While using a blog isn’t a new experience for me, it also isn’t a favorite of mine.  Blogging is a great tool to use, when given the appropriate audience and interest.  I have found that blogs are easy to set up and manage, but finding the audience to entice into reading is much more of a challenge.  A personal blog often leads towards more of a seller stance than of a sharer, which isn’t something I seek to find myself falling into in our education world.  While I avoid using a personal blog, I’ve had great experiences using it in the classroom!

The RSS Reader Feedly was a new experience for me.  In the past I had used Google Reader to follow along with the professional blogs that I followed.  I never expanded my use of Google Reader past school and technology related blogs.  One of the features of Feedly that captured my attention instantly was the ability to link-in websites.  There are several websites, such as Tween Tribune or News ELA, which I use in my classroom on a frequent basis.  Attaching them to Feedly has allowed me to have instantaneous access to all the sites I use, and places them in one location for easy and quick access.  The ability to attach blogs also has made me get back into the blogging world – at least on the reader end of things.

      After my experiences with blogging and the RSS feeder, I feel that both fall into the “exhibits” section of Dale’s Cone.  RSS Feeders place information in one location, with quick and easy access to read that information.  To me, this is a technological version of a museum exhibit, with the exception that it might capture the reader’s interest simply because of format.  A blog, if used in the classroom, while is still a prime example of a technological “exhibit”, is at least more of a sensory experience exhibit.  It allows for interaction between pictures/slideshows, videos, and even allows for student interaction with questions and comments after each post.  Students can even take turns posting to the classroom blog, which ties in the sensory experience and the ability to interact of some exhibits found in museums.

      As we experienced in the articles from last week, Postman shares the opinion that technology isn’t always for the better.  What was a problem that an RSS Feeder and a blog had to solve?  In my experience as an educator, the blog solves more of a problem than the RSS Feeder does.  The RSS Feeder Feedly is a great way to locate information quickly, and to place information at the student’s fingertips.  However, as an educator, I worry about the information that might emerge as a shared interest.  One of the best ways, and something I look forward to trying out in my classroom, is the ability for students to customize their news feed.  To have the students be able to add news websites and blogs, from local to worldwide, would drastically improve writing skills.  Students would be able to compare news feeds, reflect on current events, and even practice writing prompt skills similar to those present on the common core tests.

      The blog on the other hand presents lots of creative classroom uses.  Currently my classroom uses our blog as a way to provide instantaneous connections to parents.  Students take pictures throughout the day, and then document our day within our classroom blog.  In the past we’ve “hooked up” blogs from across the country as a way to study the other US Regions.  Blogs solve the old-school journaling problem – who’s turn is it to turn it in? Who reads the journals? Does it only go between one child and the teacher?  Blogs allow for multiple students to share their opinions and thoughts, while teaching the beginnings of opinions along with debate skills.

      Overall, as Siegel said on page 1, “Perhaps the answer has less to do with the technologies themselves and more to do with how we use the technologies to achieve learning.”  Any piece of technology, whether hardware, software, or an online tools, is a foundation for learning. It is up to us as educators to find useful ways to incorporate each piece of technology into a meaningful tool for student use.