Educational use of blogs

This summer I got a phone call from my friend in DC and she asked me if I blogged. I told her no, and she asked me to go to her blog site and read her blog. It was a pretty funny account of her recent dating adventures. Although admittedly entertaining, I just couldn't seem to find any real reason or desire inside myself to blog. Sure I have my opinions, but so does everyone else and I don't necessarily want to hear them all. To me, blogging seemed like a way to publicly vent your individual ideas or complaints, and I really wasn't interested in being a part of that. I work in an environment of women; I get to hear enough complaining and opinions without going online and searching for it!

Last month I was reintroduced to the world of blogs, this time for educational purposes. In comparison to using the City U blackboard, which never really proved very efficient, blogs suddenly seemed like a great idea. Then this assignment came up and I started to actually research how blogs are being used in education. Apparently, there is a whole world of educators using blogs in the classroom and neither myself nor anyone at my school is part of this group.

Educational blogs seem to be broken down into two groups of users. Those that use blogs for their own use as educators to talk with other educators, organize and promote their research, or as a classroom tool to replace a class website. The other group uses blogs as an educational tool for their students, where the students actually blog and share ideas with their teacher and other students. The two groups are not mutually exclusive. In the latter, the number one thing I read in my research was that unless the teacher is using the blog as a conversation tool, not just a writing assignment, it is no different than a traditional writing journal done with pen and paper.

I see a problem with blogs that is similar to the problem of using technology in the classroom. We shouldn't use technology just to be using it. Unless technology enhances the lesson or the learning, it shouldn't just be thrown in to say that your lessons are technologically enhanced. Many teachers across the globe are using blogs for educational purposes in their classroom and beyond. Blogs are not limited to individual classes or even entire schools, resonating the power of building online communities. Blogs can be used to promote reading and writing, to showcase the work of students or to exchange ideas among students, teachers or school administrators. In sum, blogs exemplify that online content creation is only limited by the creativity of its users.

Educational journal

Currently I get the SmartBoard newsletter because I used it a lot last year for my core classes. I have to admit that this year I have not yet read it, but if I had any spare time I know that I would like to. I just subscribed to early childhood news. It looks like it will cover a lot of relevent topics for my kindergarten class, and may even give me insight for ways to be a more effective teacher, which is what my Pro Cert class wants me to prove, so maybe this journal will help me to accomplish that. The website for this journal is http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/

PowerPoint as an educational tool

There is no question that PowerPoint is one of the most commonly used types of technology in High schools today. It is also quickly gaining popularity in Elementary schools. PowerPoint can be quite a great tool in schools, but like anything, there are a number of pros and cons that go along with it. On the web there are lots of opinions about why educators should or shouldn't use PowerPoint, as well as lots of tips for how to use PowerPoint in an effective way.

Personally, I think that almost everyone will learn better when visuals accompany a presentation. When communication is delivered in a few different ways it is more effective as pictures do help to aid in memory. Beside all the basic do's and don'ts associated with PowerPoint presentations, there are also another set of rules specifically for presenting with this tool. One thing to remember is that the speaker or presenter needs to use PowerPoint to aid the presentation, not the other way around where the presenter just supplies the audio for the slide.

As a kindergarten teacher I don't use PowerPoint is a traditional way, but if I were a teacher of older kiddos I think that the number one thing I would want to keep in mind is that the PowerPoint should not hinder spontaneous discussion. Too often I think the presenter has a very specific layout when presenting and this rigid outline could take away from the authentic discussions and opinions that the students may have.

Presenky reading

This reading is similar to other things that I have read about the argument for and against adding technology into the classroom. I think the point about the digital natives advantage and ease of use with technology is a strong one. Digital immigrants not only have to learn something that is basically foreign to them, not to mention that as an adult (especially an educator) it is difficult to admit that we don't know how to do something. I assume that this is where most of the negativity comes from. The truth is that there is always resistance when doing new things. Even adopting a new curriculum in schools brings stress and tension to the district. Change is never easy, but in this situation, educators are needing to change to catch up with their students, which can be intimidating.

In the end, the reality is that eventually, the digital natives will go away. Eventually they will all get old, retire and be replaced by younger more tech savvy digital natives. We can't assume that in the meantime, every immigrant will accept the change and adapt, but we live in a world where technology is growing exponentially, so it doesn't make much sense for the natives to learn the old way.

About me

I am a kindergarten teacher at Lakewood elementary. We are just north of Everett, and annexed into Marysville without all the benefits of being the Marysville school district. This is my third year teaching kindergarten at Lakewood, and before that I tought ELL in Lakewood for K-8. My first year of teaching was in London. I got a replacement job in November at a school in west London. After a year of that I ended up going to Taiwan to teach English. I stayed there for almost two years before deciding I needed to come home and back to real life. Once here I met a boy and got married and this is definitely real life.