Vision of the Future Brainstorm



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 how will parents get notified when I add something new to the class blog or website? This is something I need to delve deeper into and research which platform is the most user-friendly and has a privacy element to protect the students in my class. In my school district we collect Media Consent forms for students at the beginning of the school year. Here parents give permission for their child’s picture to be used. Many parents do not like their child’s picture to be used by outside media so this is something I will have to clarify with my Administrator, if a website is considered outside media?

The following video reiterates my concerns about communicating with parents in a timely manner where they receive the information they need in an easy-to-access format. The video also provides some ideas and tips about how to update and communicate with parents and students in a meaningful way. The following tips are mentioned in the video:
1.     Send out updates to everyone on a consistent and predictable basis
2.     Find a platform that meets parents and students where they already are
3.     Empower students with opportunities to lead (and communicate)

I have chatted with a few teachers who use Wordpress and Shutterfly, and I have read of some other educators who use Google Classroom or Weebly. Below is a link to a survey. If you have the time to answer it, this might help me decide if I should do a blog or website and which platform to use. Thank you in advance!
Zoho Survey link

A few of the platforms I chose to include in my survey are also listed in this article.
I think I would feel more comfortable choosing a platform that other teachers I know use, so if I ever come across a problem I could seek help or advice from them.

My other question is, if I want my website or blog to be private, how will I set it up in a way for this class so my peers can see what I have created? Should I avoid posting anything about my classroom with pictures of my students for the time being until after our course is finished and then start posting more images? I have lots of pictures of activities I have taught in my class, that I have not sent to parents in my weekly emails yet. The reason I have not sent these pictures to my parents yet is because I often write these emails while at school and my phone does not connect to my desktop school computer to transfer the pictures. I do want to share these pictures with my parents and one idea I have is to write a couple posts about what the students are doing in these pictures even though they were taken starting back at the beginning of the school year. I will be going back in time, so to say but I think the parents would still appreciate seeing some of the activities we have done in the months prior.

I would also want this website or blog to be connected to my work email and not my personal gmail account.

The following article includes some good tips for what to include in a classroom website or blog and provides some other platforms to choose from.

I also found the  Great EdTech Debate article helpful because it provides examples of how you can use each platform in your classroom as well as the pros and cons of each one.

I can be quite indecisive at times so your feedback or tips would be much appreciated to help me decide on one platform to chose, learn, use, and implement into my Grade 2 Classroom this year!

Can I create the best classroom platform using 21st century technology tools and modes of communication? With some research, recommendations, and discussion, I hope I will be able to find and choose one that works best for me, my students, and parent community!
 Image retrieved from ning.com

 Bibliography

Bradbury, J. (January 23, 2016). The Great EdTech Debate: Google Sites versus Google Classroom Versus Blogger. TeacherCast.net. Retrieved from http://www.teachercast.net/2016/01/23/the-great-edtech-debate-google-sites-vs-google-classroom-vs-blogger/

Common Sense Education. (October 11, 2016). Power Up Your Parent Communication. Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3zQcA_s3jM

Kharbach, M. (n.d.) 10 Excellent Platforms to Create your Classroom Website and Blog. Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. Retrieved from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/04/10-excellent-platforms-to-create-your.html

Steel, H. (January  31, 2017). How to Create a School or Teacher Website by Yourself. Superb Website Builders. Retrieved from https://superbwebsitebuilders.com/schools-and-teachers/







Comments

  1. Ms. Fletcher7 November 2017 at 15:42

    Seems like you have given this plenty of thought and consideration. I am curious to know, have you spoken with parents? What do they want/expect? I find this is so different from school to school where some parents want many updates and digital reminders, whereas at others not so much. I mentioned this to someone in weeks past (you maybe?) that I saw a K teacher who uses "bloomz" which is an app that allows the teacher to send photos or reminders either to the entire mailing list of parents, or to specific private messages. She was really happy with this app, but I haven't used it myself.

    One thing that I was thinking about when it comes to apps and classroom websites -- does this open up contact time all hours of the day? When is "quiet time"? What is a reasonable response time? If messages can come in from parents at any time, when does the teacher get to "turn off"?

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    Replies
    1. Unknown8 November 2017 at 18:59

      Yes you did mention Bloomz to me and that is one I still need to read up about. I have not asked what "my" parents want but from what I have heard from other teachers at my school, they like getting weekly updates via a student's self-reflection or a digital platform like FreshGrade. But perhaps I should send a survey to my parent group too to see if it would be worthwhile. I have a lot of ELL parents so communication can be hard, pictures are helpful though :) I also have wondered about the online presence these digital platforms entail and when is online time and offline time. That is something I think I would have to set up prior and let parents know when I will be responding and when I am offline otherwise you will never get away from it all. Thanks for the questions, tips, and feedback!

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    2. JMendgen11 November 2017 at 22:40

      Great idea to use a survey! I tried to fill it out but I found that I have many of the same questions as you! I've only used Blogger - for both university coursework and previously with my students. I did find it easy to quickly post assignments, but honestly, I just couldn't keep up with it for the number of classes that I had (high school). It worked as a way to inform/remind of assignments and link to online resources, and both students and parents could view it which was helpful. You could designate a time each week that it would be updated (like Thurs/Fri afternoons) so people would know when to look at it for new information. I wonder if Fresh Grade would be the way to go if you're wanting to upload student work, and then you can easily set the privacy levels. I can see that parents would like seeing the work of their own children, in addition to upcoming events/field trips. Suggestions for great books to read and some learning resources may be good too. More than that and I people may feel overwhelmed with information overload.
      I do find with blogs that the longer I have to scroll down, the more likely I am to move on. I like having the tab features at the top to help break down the categories. Weebly and Wikispaces seem good options too.

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    3. Unknown12 November 2017 at 08:33

      Hi Julie! Yes I agree, the more you have to scroll down, the harder it would be to find info or keep updated, especially if you missed a few weeks of posts. Also due to my privacy concerns, I feel more inclined to use a website after getting feedback from you all. I have also heard that teachers who used to have a blog or website but then started using FreshGrade, began using their website or blog less and less. I also want to try out FreshGrade or another reporting platform but I may stick with a website for this year and see how it goes. If it was not successful then FreshGrade it may be :) Thanks for your input and tips!

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  2. Aaron Mueller13 November 2017 at 06:24

    A very good discussion of a valuable resource you plan on developing for your final vision. Your idea for a website to communicate learning, share news, showcase your classroom activities and connect with parents and other educators sounds fantastic. I would caution against setting up a password protected 'closed' site, as you will find very few users and visitors, and therefore less value. I would consider an open site, but have safeguards like not show faces of children (Backs of students, books held up in front of faces, etc). Talk with your Principal about the expectations from admin, as well as suggest to parents that they 'subscribe' to your blog via email, so they get email notifications when there are new posts. Overall, very good brainstorming, scope, and discussions.

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