Introduction to Blogging

Hi! My name is Kishawna. I am a first year teacher in Early Childhood education with a focus in Special Education. I am a mother of 6 children, I have 4 girls that are 16,6,5 and 4. I have 2 boys that are 8 and 7. We also have 3 dogs, 3 cats and 2 snakes. It's like our little petting zoo! Needless to say it is never quiet and there is never a dull moment. I have always been passionate about working with children in a preschool/head start atmosphere. To me this is the most important age to start teaching a child. I chose to focus on special education because I can relate to it on a personal level. My youngest child has down syndrome and I have worked closely with her teachers to develop an educational plan to meet all her needs. Not only can I help educate but I can also relate to families of special needs children on a personal level.

photo on flickr by shareski/creative commons licensed

I believe communication between students, teacher and  parents is very key in the child's ongoing development. With a classroom blog the teacher can continuously update whats going on with in the classroom, have the students and parents comment and add on to it as well. Finding way to engage parents into their child's learning has been a struggle in the past, with such busy lives. Blogging can be a way for parents to feel involved.  With technology becoming an important tool used in the classroom it just makes sense to equip them with these skills at an earlier age. Blogging in the classroom can be used in many ways. They can be used as a form of online discussion, strengthening writing skills, lesson planning just to name a few. Students can be introduced to blogging in the classroom as a way of self expression. The teacher can post about a topic or lesson and require the student to respond to it, the student has the option to respond in or out of the classroom. Blogging can be used as an individual, group or class assignment. It can also motivate some students that might not be very vocal in a classroom setting to express their outlook on a topic.

Blogging can also be a great resource for other educators to communicate through. Blogs are not just meant for text anymore. You can insert websites, video, widgets, photos and much more. Being able to share ideas, what works, what hasn't can be a game changer for any teacher. As any teacher knows this career is not a 9-5 job. You can find great discussion ideas here for blogging, lesson plans and much more at PBS Learning Media. This site can be used for PK-12 grade, there are several breakdowns of subject matter, learning tools and how you would like to present your information. Lets say I wanted to find an activity for 1st grade, language arts and I wanted it to be interactive all I would have to do is choose from the drop down sections and it would give me my options to choose from.