Week 2 Technology in MY Classroom...

I have found myself taking on new adventures and avenues the last couple years professionally and honestly it is totally out of my comfort zone. However, looking back it has been a FUN and educational ride! I am getting more confident with a variety of ages of students, along with their capabilities in the classroom. I from my jump from 5^th to 2^nd to now 1^st, I know students are eager to get technology in their hands. I feel I am very comfortable with finding something interactive for the SmartBoard, or a great new app for the iPad, or even a new site for the desktop computers. I even took on a new avenue with Twiducate last year, with second graders!

My focus is the Internet and Communication Tools facet. I want to see the lines really open up with not only students, but also parents. Late in the year, last year, I created my own “hashtag” on Twitter. I do not feel many parents followed me on Twitter. (According to my email notifications, none of my parents started following me.)  I am challenging myself to Blogging this upcoming year. Blogging inside the classroom with students, and blogging outside the classroom with parents is my personal goal for this upcoming school year.

Using blogging in a first grade classroom will have its limits, in the beginning. I feel after I get it up and running we will have a blast and it will be an awesome tool. I will be teaching handwriting and math to my homeroom and math to another set of students. I hope to have students reading a daily blog, and asking them to comment. I could post the “daily math question” (a word problem) for example, and students could reply below with their answers. I could even offer an incentive for finding a friend’s mistake. (a wrong answer) As I become more familiar with my new curriculum I am certain I will see many more options for blogging.

My main focus in August will be blogging with parents, and making parents aware. I want to blog about the week, and even give individual praises throughout my posts. In giving personal praises I hope to get the positive feedback and parent interaction. Currently, as you see, I am using Blogger. It seems very user friendly, and I plan to continue with it. I tried out WordPress the first week of this course- and an hour after playing and navigating, I found myself back to my original blog!