Thing #3

Blogging for the Classroom

I think that blogging would be a great way to connect with my student's and their parents. I would like to set up a blog each school year where parents and students can look to see what is going on in the classroom. I would like to teach third grade so I am not sure how exactly it would work. I was thinking of getting the students involved in a classroom blog. Each student would get to write on the classroom blog throughout the school year. I think this would be a great way for students to connect with technology and an exciting thing to show their parents as well. Of course if I do something like this, my students may be teaching me how to blog instead of the other way around. I think this is a great way for students to practice their typing skills along with using different forms of web tools that will help them later on in their schooling career. I would hope that parents would take the time to read the blog but considering what I've heard from teachers about PowerSchool and how barely any parents log-in to check their child's grades, I'm not sure how many parents would take the time to read the classroom blog. 

In addition to creating a classroom blog, depending on how this 23 things blog goes, I think I would like to set up my own personal blog where I can express my feelings about my first year teaching. I know I would like to read first year teacher's blogs almost as much as I would like to read a well-seasoned teacher's blog. I feel like if I can connect with other first year teachers over the troubles and breakthroughs that I am having and that I am sure they are having, I won't feel so isolated being a first year teacher. Plus when I have a few more years of teaching under my belt it would be nice to look back and see how much I've grown as a person and educator. I think blogging is almost like a diary (that everyone can read!) and a penpal all tied up in one. My only fear with starting a personal blog my first year of teaching would be will I have enough time to dedicate to putting my thoughts down. In the past I was never a very good penpal and never wrote in a diary for more than a week or two. This blog is the first one and so far I am having a good time writing it so we will see!

Thing #2

The Blog and The Avatar

I have no experience with blogging and I never thought that I would have a blog. I don't think of myself as old but with the rate of new things in technology, I now feel a little older. I have never really been a very tech savvy person and I am the one always talking to someone at a helpdesk to help me with all my technology questions. I was a little hesitant when it comes to starting a blog but so far it has been a positive experience and I am not finding it very difficult but  then again I am only on Thing #2. I never had a myspace account and until Facebook and Pinterest came along I really only used the computer for when I needed it for schoolwork or checking my e-mail.

I come from the mindset that if you put something up on the Internet you can never take it down, it is there forever. This still makes me a little nervous doing a blog for everyone to see. Then again there are so many blogs and so many people the likelihood of someone other than my classmates who are also in the same boat reading my blog is probably very slim. Honestly, I never thought I was an interesting enough person to write a blog.

I had a good time inventing my avatar. I liked all the options that you could choose from to make your avatar like yourself. I think this is a fun thing to do to make a blog a little more interesting. My avatar looks similar to what I think I look like if I was a cartoon. I did have trouble with the background I tried to make it a transparent background but it didn't work out that way. Looking at it now I think the white background is probably best so my avatar doesn't get lost in my blog background. One of my favorite colors is red so I made her shirt and shoes red and she is wearing blue jeans. Some of the other options were funny but not appropriate for a school blog.

Thing #1

7 1/2 Habits

I had never heard of the 7 1/2 Habits of Life Long Learners before and I found it very interesting. I enjoyed the fact that the 1/2 habit was play. I can see being a teacher how it could be easy to forget this necessary habit and why it was included. No matter what grade someone teaches, everyone is more engaged when fun is involved. I would say that the easiest one for me out of the 7 1/2 habits would be habit 7 to teach and mentor others. When I was growing up I always enjoyed helping others and people felt comfortable talking to me about problems they were having. 

The hardest habit I would say would be habit 4 to have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner. Although I was an outlet for friends growing up, I lacked the confidence in my own studies. I was almost a year younger than most of my peers in my grade and I was put in all the honors classes. I struggled at times especially in math and questioned if I should be in the honors classes. I always felt like the "dumb" one in the class (especially Trigonometry). When it came to Calculus I didn't have that same feeling. The difference? The teacher... It is amazing how much a learning environment can shape students' learning. When you have a warm and safe classroom where it is ok to make mistakes a student can feel confident as a learner. I only hope to give my future students that type of learning environment that my Calculus teacher gave me. 

I heard of people blogging before, but I always thought it was a place for people to complain about things (I guess people save that for Facebook now). This introduction into blogging has taught me that blogging doesn't have to be a place where people write and complain but it can be a fun and exciting experience. I honestly never thought I would be a blogger, but with this post I am now officially a blogger. I hope to learn new and fun tools that I can use to say connected with my students and be a successful teacher!