Sunday, August 29, 2010
Blogging is child's play...
Yesterday my family and I had dinner with friends. Andrea Bing is a primary school teacher, currently working with a small group of new entrants (5-year olds) at Manchester Street School here in Feilding. After supper, she showed me her classroom blog. Working as I do with tertiary students, it was refreshing to see what people do with social networking at the foundation level. Andrea's blog provides a wonderful way for parents to keep in touch with what their children are learning and doing at school, and it provides a great place for the children to display their achievements. I particularly liked the idea of students recording themselves reading and uploading the resulting MP3 files - what a wonderful way to motivate reluctant readers! Andrea has some lovely gadgets on the page, such as picture puzzles and scratch cards, which should keep young visitors well entertained! One I particularly like is the visitor location map (available from Cluster Maps) which I've added to my blog... imagine how exciting it would be for 5-year olds to see people from all over the world visiting their blog! It's a free geography lesson too!
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Hi Jean, I have been blown away over the past 18 months by how primary teachers are using blogs, wiki etc. What I worry about is...are we keeping up with them in higher ed? How are these children who are used to all this intereactive ways of learning going to feel when they get to us...?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Sarah. Sometimes it seems that the further up the education ladder we climb, the less exciting we are. I remember a primary school teacher challenging a group of secondary student-teachers about why high school classrooms are so ugly. Sometimes it seems that we create a learning environment designed to stifle, rather than foster passion. With any luck, the students who have had dynamic teachers, and who are familiar with interactive learning, will continue to DEMAND it of their teachers, and drive change that way.
ReplyDeleteIn my previous position as Head Teacher at Manaia Kindergarten we spent 3 years exploring the opportunities blogging provided for strengthening relationships with our families and community. The opportunities were endless and we linked with a huge variety of other educators both nationally and internationally through our blogging journey. Our children took on complete ownership of the blog and knew that they could share their learning with an authentic audience. They loved the comments they received on a regular basis from family, friends and other educators and took great pride in their learning. Feel free to check it out www.manaiakindergarten.blogspot.com. Our final report of our research is available if you are interested.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that link - and yes, I'd love to have a look at your research. I do think foundation-phase teachers are the pioneers for the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteHi Jean,
ReplyDeleteIf you are happy to email me tania.coutts@core-ed.org I will send you a PDF copy of our research report.
Tania