As a future teacher in the early childhood education program, I am
constantly weighing the the pros and cons of using technology in the
classroom. In my own classroom, I hope to incorporate technology in
developmentally appropriate ways for children. However, I plan to use
technology even more as a resource for parents. By having a classroom
website and blog, I will be able to create a "window" into our daily
explorations, successes, and revelations. I plan to use this technology
as a way to communicate with parents, as well as promote dialogue in and
out of the classroom. I am constantly searching for current teacher's
classroom websites and blogs to use as examples and to pull ideas from.
This post will review a current teacher's blog: Ms. Cassidy's Classroom Blog.
Features To Be Noted
Layout/Design
My first reaction to Ms. Cassidy's Classroom Blog was to notice the aesthetically pleasing layout. Wow! I loved that the first thing my eyes were drawn to on the page was a picture of the children in the classroom. The blog's template was very neutral (perfect for male and female students), but the photo brought a pop of color to the page. I found that the blog was easily accessible-- perfect for parents, grandparents, or other adults who might not have prior experience reading a blog!
Frequent Posts
Next, I immediately checked the frequency of the posts. This teacher posts every few days, which I think is a perfectly reasonable amount. The blog posts are detailed, including pictures and videos. Realistically, it would be very time consuming to post every single day--although I 'm sure there are some super teachers out there that do! Maybe some day I will work up to that on my own classroom blog, but for now, I felt this was a very realistic goal for a new teacher.
Social Media Connections
How cool is it that Ms. Cassidy's Classroom also has their very own twitter account?! I am personally a huge Twitter fan and feel that it is a great resource to quickly share information with parents, other teachers, and potentially even students. (PSA: I am NOT a fan of children having Twitter, but I'm sure some of my future students will have an account.) This allows the classroom to send out mass reminders, updates, and post interesting links with additional information!
Additional Resources
Not only is this blog an exciting place for students to share their work and the teacher to communicate with families, but it also gives tons of additional resources! Included in the side menu are links for students, links for parents, and links for other future teachers.
Questions I Have
- How did parents react when initially finding out about the blog?
- Did all give permission for their children to be featured on the blog?
- How long does the teacher spend on each blog post?
