Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Blogging from the Classroom

While exploring the world of blogs and trying to become more familiar with them, I was also thinking how I would incorporate them in my classroom. Deciding to google “blogging with special education students”, many sites suddenly appeared to my discretion. John Lloyd author of Teach Effectively! Blog http://www.blogged.com/blogs/teach-effectively.html stated this blog was intended to be used as a source for current news and opinions about effective teaching focusing on children with special education needs. John Lloyd shares how to use this blog as a tool of information as well as provide examples of how to reference properly.
As I was thinking of what purpose my blog could serve, it occurred to me to create a centralized location for collecting information and ideas which correlates directly with the specialized materials, curriculum, and instruction our school district requires of the special education teachers. It would be simple to gather teacher contact information and spread the word of this collaborative ongoing adventure.
Since the majority of special education teachers from my district are asked to use the same reading and math curriculum, we could compile a plethora of ideas of how to enhance and/or provide supplemental activities for each lesson. This blog would offer more of a venue for teachers to share ideas, concerns or even student’s work, allowing student’s access wouldn’t be productive.
I believe creating a blog for teachers at this time while planning for possible future expansion to include my students would best serve my needs as well as provide the needed time to practice my blogging techniques before extending to students. (Plus there is a confidentiality issue which encompasses special ed students)
I currently teach special education within a resource setting for K-3 graders.

7 comments:

  1. Kim

    It sounds like you have some good ideas for blogging. It appears to me teacher have three possible target audiences for their Blogs, teacher to teacher (collaborative), teacher to student (instructive, reflective, resource) and teacher to parent (informative). I guess you would have to say our Blogs for Walden University EDUC-6710 are the collaborative type. One benefit in additional to collaborating that I see already form the comments of classmates in our class is growing sense of confidence with this type of medium. I surprised myself.

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  2. Kim.
    Great ideas for collaborating with other special education teachers and using technologies to your advantage. One challenge you might face, however, would be concerning coaxing "old school" special education teachers into wanting to collaborate using blogs. Some teachers are set in their ways, especially those near retirement age. If the majority of the special education teachers in your district decided to start collaborating using blogs (or other high tech ways) how do you think you would try to convince those "old school" teachers? Or would only collaborating via blog with those who chose to be an option?
    -Tonya Todd

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  3. During my first year of teaching (just 2 years ago), I was introduced to my first student with Autism. I can see using blogging as a way to create a community of families sharing life experiences. A place that they could offer support, links to information, and contacts for collaberation. The teachers, families, and students could work more closely and more often in support of the child's progress. Thanks for the idea.

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  4. Kim,
    Your idea of a blog actually works great. I helped create a blog for the foreign language teachers in Cincinnati to go to and share ideas and air out grievances about the district. We bonded in unique ways and I have actually gotten a lot of great ideas from more experienced teachers in how to present certain lessons. For a blog with students with Special needs is to maybe create a blog with a plethora of links and such that are available to help the students understand things in different ways.

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  5. Kim,
    You are exactly right. I am also a special education teacher dealing with high school students and I have discussed that my current students just wouldn't be ready to jump into the world of blogging. There would be to many obstacles to face in order to become effectively constructed. I do, though, like the idea of a special educational blog for teachers that my expand the horizons into a goal bank for IEP's. With so many law, program, and software changes the constant interaction between special education teachers around the world might prompt some needed answers. Good post.

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  6. Do you write in agendas or log books for each student every day? Could a blog be helpful to communicate projects, plans or assigmnents to parents daily?

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  7. Kim,
    I think your idea for blogging with other special ed teachers to gather information and ideas would be a good use of a blog. But I have to agree with Tonya getting all the teachers to take up this new technology, and in some cases have to learn something new, may be a challenge. Over the past week I mentioned to several of the teachers at my school the assignment we were given to find a use for blogging in the classroom. Eighty percent of them thought that it would be just too much work, not worth the effort, and would take too much time. Many of these teachers were not just "old teachers" like me but were teachers that have only been teaching 1 to 5 years.

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