Developments – Class blogs evolve

I was just spending a moment adding links to the new class blogs that my fellow teachers have recently created and once again it got me thinking – nothing in life is static.

My household has had an eventful week, my eldest daughter turned 18, graduated high school and got her drivers licence (in Aus you have to be 18 for this milestone).   She drove off into the sunshine on her own yesterday with amazing confidence – the fruits of the past 2 years of driver training were evident.   Life has evolved.

So too, in my professional life, I am seeing great developments.  I am loving how I am being challenged and extended.   Many staff have been dabbling in the world of blogging and I am overwhelmed with how this new medium seems to be such a natural progression.   I am learning so much every day as teachers make discoveries and share them.   Our understandings are evolving as we give it a go and  adapt according to our experiences.  The technology is not really the issue, it is the communication that it provides that is the important factor.

The wonderful teaching that has always been happening is now being enhanced by the ability to share beyond the classroom walls.  Teachers and students are making connections and being affirmed and encouraged by this contact.   A visit to any of the school blogs in my Blogroll will attest to this amazing development.     Teachers are collaborating and both they and their students are the beneficiaries.

Image Source http://www.flickr.com/photos/langwitches/Langwitches - T
Image Source http://www.flickr.com/photos/langwitches/Langwitches - T

This week we had a great staff meeting where we discussed the possibilities and issues of blogging.    I started the session by discussing the diagram – the Networked teacher.   I like this diagram as it highlights the tools we have always used for collaborating with each other, as well as indicating the enormous range of potential that the WWW has provided.  Teachers have always been good at supporting each other and I love how blogging has been a natural extension of that.

In a recent PD session that I ran at another school, I was challenged “How are we supposed to fit all this in?”  A familiar question and often one that comes from someone who has not yet really connected with technology.   I replied that using these tools (in this case blogging) was not an extra – it was just doing what we had always done (writing) but in a different way.    A class blog could be seen as an extension of the class room display – only with a much greater audience and amazing potential.

Teachers are doing amazing things and I believe the power of blogging will encourage and inspire more and more.   I love how incorporating these technologies into the classrooms is exhibiting to the students that the teachers are true examples of lifelong learners.

5 thoughts on “Developments – Class blogs evolve

  1. There was a cool blogger named Cele,
    Ruminations of class she could spiel,
    Her silver-tongued musings
    With treasures were oozing
    And her literary talent was real!

  2. Congratulations for having had such a great impact on teachers in your school Celia! It really must be so satisfying for you to see the ‘engagement’ of teachers with blogging. How true it is to say that today we are doing the same as we’ve always done, just with different tools adn in a different way.

  3. Thanks,
    @ Bev, I am just going along for the ride – the teachers are the ones finding all the purpose and value !!
    @Marg, I love that video, must use it one day soon. The poem made me blush 😉

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