Teacher connecting with others

Well this has been quite the learning journey for me! I have learned so much in our LIBE477 course and will continue to use my new knowledge and skills that I have obtained in my everyday teaching. When I started this course I was not the biggest advocate and user of technology in my primary classroom. I had concerns about the amount of screen time children these days are exposed to and also felt that I, as the educator, didn’t know much about educational apps nor felt confident in using them alone in my classroom. I had only ever used educational apps on the iPads when other supports were in the room. For example, I have used the iPads with our big buddy class to do coding or create research presentations but that was not very often at all. I am lucky to have a SmartBoard in my room but I knew I was not using it to its full potential. I use it as an interactive whiteboard, to play video clips, and use some of the manipulative and image features for math lessons. I knew ther...

My final vision project has a few layered elements to it that I did not foresee when I first set out on my final project. I originally planned to create a class website to share with my parent community, teachers on staff, and the wider world. But what didn’t appeal to me was not being able to share certain photos because student faces were in them, due to privacy concerns for my students and from the parents. This year, I have taken class photos at Halloween, on a field trip, as well as many pictures showing excited students engaged in building creations where they requested their picture to me taken. I didn’t want to be hindered in my ability to share these pictures with the parents due to media consent issues on a public site so I opted for a more private class website. I decided to use Shutterfly ClassShare. I also wanted to have a website to better connect with my ELL parents. Below is a screenshot of my website so far. (Doing this screenshot...

Image retrieved from emaze.com Well, I have decided to create a classroom website instead of a blog for my final vision project. After some reflection on which platform is better, and with the help and advice of some of my teacher friends, I opted for a site that is private and only the members you add can view it. I decided to choose Shutterfly Share Sites as my website platform. I also like how websites have pages or tabs to organize different categories or content information. https://www.shutterfly.com/classroom-share/ It is interesting the way I came to this decision. I even set up an online survey that I posted last week to my blog. I also shared this survey on Facebook, and tagged teacher friends with the link, in order to get their opinion. Many of them use Weebly or Wordpress but those are all open sites. Then I remembered a previous blog post I had written about a teacher friend from last year who had shown me Shutterfly Class Share. It is...

Image retrieved from freetech4teachers.com           Image retrieved from pinterest.com For my final vision project I have been thinking about creating a classroom website. I have been teaching for the last five years and this has always been a goal for me but I have never seemed to find the time or put it on my priority list. However, after this class, I have realized the benefits of teacher blogs as a way to share with other teachers but also to connect with parents. Therefore, I think my audience for this Vision Project will be my current parents as well as the primary teachers on my staff. I am hoping the teachers may get some good ideas for lessons from my blog or website and the parents will get a better snapshot of their child’s learning and activities we do throughout the week. I currently send weekly email updates to my parents but I could transfer that communication to a class blog or website. My only concern is...