Thursday, July 30, 2015

Russell Street School Impressions

The way the Russell Street School communicates within their community is pretty impressive and inspiring. They clearly put a lot of thought into how to best use blogs to fit their needs as a school. The concept of a whole school site, with teacher blogs listed, is great for communication with parents. I was really interested to see how individual teachers and classrooms used blogs to communicate what their students were doing and learning in school. A few great items that really caught my attention from the class blogs were the following:
Room 14

  • Students posted pictures of the planning they completed in their notebooks, as well as final projects created with technology. This would be great to showcase their design journals when creating solutions to problems in class.
  • Home learning guide.
  • Students posted the big idea for projects, feedback, and self-evaluations.
Room 9
  • Google slides for math problems practice.
  • Additional pages on the blogsite for resources on other skills and subjects.
Room 10
  • Twitter feeds for the class also posted on the class blog.
Looking through the class blogs at the Russell Street School has given me great ideas on how I want my class blog/website to look and what it's purpose will be. I love the idea of listing the students blogs on the site as an easy way for parents to see the work their kids are creating. The logistical problem of how to organize and manage 6 classes of students (~120 kiddos) is still a concern for me. 
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4 comments:

  1. UnknownAugust 1, 2015 at 10:17 AM

    I agree, managing 120 kids is a little different than 25. I'm also a little concerned about the logistical problems of taking pictures and uploading them. We don't have iPads, just Chromebooks. But I just love the way photos showcase all of their work, not just digital assignments. I wonder if I could get away with letting students use their phones.

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  2. Jeff HallAugust 2, 2015 at 6:58 AM

    Photos also create a different level of privacy concerns. You would have to ensure you had parental permission for photos to be used.

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  3. UnknownAugust 3, 2015 at 12:05 AM

    Jeff and Lori-
    Both were concerns of mine...I have an iPad and doc cam that could be used to take pics of student work. Privacy concerns are what scare me away from blogging in school. I would have to communicate with admin and parents on what the policy was before attempting it. But the Russell Street school sure makes it look cool!

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  4. UnknownAugust 4, 2015 at 9:58 AM

    Emily, have a look at KIdblog. I experimented with it in school last year. I'm not sure if your context would let you use it but maybe as a pilot. It is safe, child friendly and photos are not an issue as they are locked down to the class group. Worth having a look at depending on the age of pupils?

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