The Teaching and Learning of Mrs. Rice

 . . . then it is to ask for permission.I haven’t been told yes, I haven’t been told no.  I’ve been told to hold off.  I really feel like people stifle innovation out of fear.  Safety at all costs – students should be locked in rooms with dull pencils and no windows.  That way they can’t hurt themselves and no one can hurt them.  Too frustrated to post. 

I am still waiting for a response from our ‘District Technology Support Coordinator’ about the use of Classblogmeister.  I stumbled upon this rather fitting Dilbert comic. 

I should find out this week what his ‘decision’ will be.  In the meantime, have a look at the blogging that my students are doing! 

So the Avatar glitch I spoke of earlier while trying to insert student created avatars into their classblogmeister blogs wasn’t a glitch at all.  I’m a little embarrassed to say that I just hadn’t ‘approved’ them.

Had my meeting with our District Technology Support Coordinator.  The biggest concern for him seemed to be the ability to pull down information.  I believe this stems from a problem with another school that had to do with a student capturing a bullying incident on a cell phone and then posting it on Youtube.

I’m certain he left the meeting feeling like I had done my homework.  I laid out all my points (listed below) and provided our Coordinator with information to contact David Warlick.  I will find out early next week if he officially ‘approves’ it.  I’m pretty sure he will.  If he doesn’t, well  . . .  we’ll just have to cross that bridge when it comes.

I also found out that our SMARTboard will arrive sometime next week.  I have 4/5 other teachers who are willing to learn together and we will rotate the SMARTboard into our classrooms for a month at a time.  Teachers from Kindergarten to Grade 7 are interested and I will be sharing some of the ways in which they have used it. 

————————————-

Winter is upon us . . . expected high tomorrow . . . -17 degrees celsuis (1 fahrenheit) (AND it’s only November?)

I’ve been preparing for my meeting with my District Technology Support Coordinator.  I submitted a proposal for blogging in the classroom using classblogmeister, our district approved it, but informed me I would have to use an ‘in-house’ blogging environment.  

I am quite against an ‘in-house’ blogging environment for a number of reasons:
- the time I’ve already invested in researching appropriate blogging environments.
- the classroom connections from around the world that also use classblogmeister.
- the cost to the district (why waste expensive man-hours on recreating something?).
- in our district a number of different blogging tools are being used, and I question why I am being asked to use something else when everyone else hasn’t.
- our Curriculum and Instruction department has brought in guest speakers who have even recommended using classblogmeister. 

In preparation I’ve made a few points I want to get across.   Why I chose classblogmeister . . . 
- students don’t need an email address to have their own blog.  Teachers register their own school and are provided with the passcodes, then input their own students and passwords.  All student blogs are then linked to the teacher page.
- all posts, comments, and images are approved by the teacher (if you so choose) 
- small selection of templates for students to customize.  Other blogs have too many templates and I envision students wasting too much time trying to make it fancy.
- classblogmeister has a support group for teachers.  There are over 450+ teachers registered.  Questions are quickly answered and it is an invaluable way to easily connect with teachers of similar grade levels from around the world.
- there is a wiki that explains how to use classblogmeister and has tutorials and other step-by-step guides 
- classblogmeister was created by educators for educators.
- there is no advertising on the student blogs. 

I’m curious to find out the reasons why an ‘in-house’ blogging environment has been stipulated.  I’ll be sure to post the outcomes and the concerns when I hear them.  Stay tuned.

Summary to date:

Student blogging contracts are signed.  

Letters have been sent home to parents.  

Students have created their own avatar using doppelme.com

Students have logged into their blogmeister accounts and customized their background. 

Unfortunately we experienced our first glitch today.  Students encountered various problems when they tried to insert their doppelme avatars.   A number of different errors came up (file size too big, file pending) but no matter what we tried, we couldn’t fix it.  I know there has got to be a way – hopefully I’ll have it figured out before Friday.

Student excitement is at an all time high.  Students were so eager to read other posts.  I’ve only linked to one other school so far.  They really want to comment.  For next day I hope to have them post something and even comment.  I’ve come across some guidelines for posting comments so stay tuned.   I’ll post the guidelines once I’ve taught the lesson.

A few weeks ago I submitted to our school district two proposals: (1) blogging in the classroom, and (2) using SMARTboards in the classroom.  I found out today both proposals were approved!!!!!  *jubilation*  Then I read the fine print . . . my blogging proposal has been modified to use an “in-house blogging environment”.  

@%^&*????

I spent countless hours researching different blogging tools and selected classblogmeister because it met the educational and safety requirements I desired.  I am annoyed because no one from our took the time to evaluate it; yet, they (the district) are “concerned about the safety and security of our data”.  Now I hope to meet with our tech guru and bestow him with the virtues of classblogmeister.

I am somewhat frustrated because blogging is not something new in our district.  Teachers have blogs from a host of different sites linked directly to school websites.  I question why I am being directed to use something yet to be created when there is a suitable avenue for me to proceed.  It’s just more work . . .*frustration*

The grade 6/7 students have been working on writing instructions. Students brainstormed simple tasks (sharpening a pencil, washing your hands, signing a book out from the library, how to download music to your iPod, how to set up your notebook for math, how to login to the computer) and used Microsoft Word to write a detailed list of steps along with a list of required supplies.When finished, they used a teacher created Comic Life template to copy and paste their steps and supplies. Then students used the digital cameras to document their steps.Here are a few samples of their work.Not all students chose topics from school. I had students show us how to mount a horse, how to make pancakes, how to feed your cat, how to hook up an x-box. The teachers that I worked with for this project were quite impressed when the students were able to email me their own pictures. Students nowadays know so much more than many give them credit for.

Check out their work. 

I only had about 35 minutes to introduce the students to blogging. In that time we discussed blogs, signed blogging contracts and created their personalized avatar to put on their blog. The class seemed extremely eager to get down to it. Next class (which is in 2 weeks) I hope to have them login to their classblogmeister accounts, customize their backgrounds and insert their avatar. A comment would be great, but I’ve got tight time constraints.Have a look at some of their avatars. We used doppelme.com.

I am ‘pumped’ about getting my classblogmeister accounts set up. I have typed in the student names and passwords and am eagerly awaiting Friday – when ‘blogging’ will be first introduced! Stay tuned . . .