Embedded My First Video!

Trying to Start a Classroom Blog

I have been doing some research on how to get started with blogging.  I am getting a lot of great information from Kathy Cassidy's book, which is definitely helping, but I need to make sure that my school will allow me to even blog.  I attempted to talk to my administrator the other day, but I did not get a final answer from her.  She briefly mentioned that I could maybe use a word document and save it on our shared drive as a blog versus using the internet.  This could definitely be an option, but I would love for my students to have the ability to get feedback from the world outside of their school.  Yes, I will be the person who is primarily reading and responding to their blog, but I would love for their parents to be able to see and comment on their posts.  Judy Artz, along with several other people, suggested that I look at using Kidblog.  It will allow me to approve the students' posts before they are officially submitted.  Before anything else though, if I am allowed to have a classroom blog, I have to get the parents' permission.

My First Animoto

Watch my first animoto!

http://animoto.com/play/09cFuwg2p2xvsXvMrAWxYw

I am starting to get an idea of what I want to blog about. During the Ed Cafe in class I had the opportunity to talk about integrating blogging with math. With regards to the common core, it is important to have students explain and write about how they found their answers to math problems. I believe that blogging might be a good way to get students excited about this aspect of math. I have noticed that writing about math is a frustration for my students, so I am hoping that blogging about math problems with allow them to have a different point-of-view. At the very least, I would like to try this with my students who need to be challenged in math. I could set this up as a math center!

This is my first time blogging, so this is very foreign to me! I am very excited to learn all about it, and to learn how to incorporate blogging and other technologies in my classroom. I am a fourth grade teacher in Manchester, and most of my students do not have access to computers at home. The most experience they get with computers and technology is in the classroom. I feel as though this will open many doors for my students and give them new experiences, such as the one I am having!