I realize that I would have a very difficult time maintaining this for the 33 classes I teach, but I would love to have a Class Portal so that students and parents would be able to stay on top of what was happening in music each week. The benefit to that would be that students could be 'in my classroom' even on days they were not actively attending music class. Difficulties that might arise stem mostly from the fact that my students are very young. The pre-kindergarten through 2nd graders probably couldn't submit their work via blog, and the blog would be more of a communication tool for parents. Another problem would be the assessment of music writing skills. Most students do not have music composition software on their home computers. It isn't even installed on most of our school computers.
I'm planning on starting small and creating a blog for my 4th and 5th grade chorus next year. I can include information regarding concerts, attire, field trips, and provide song lyrics for the music they are rehearsing. I can also give them some additional assignments and a place to discuss their own thoughts about our performances or the pieces we are singing. This would make the blog more of an online filing cabinet.
I like the idea that students can access information at home without me having to send 100 copies of any given item home with them. Instead I could send home a strip of paper reminding parents to check the blog when it is updated (a field trip permission form needs to be signed, etc.) - and if they had subscribed to the blog, they would be immediately aware of the changes.
Last year was my first time including blogging into my classroom. I, too, used it as a communication tool between myself, my students, and their parents. Then, I decided to make a classroom website and began using the blog for student discussion. The blog didn't work as well as I had planned, but with more knowledge now, I will definitely utilize it more effectively in my class.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between our groups is that I teach high school and you teach elementary. There is a big difference in their technology knowledge and capabilities. However, I think that it would be fairly easy to get around this. Since parents are already accessing your class blog, you can have them post their child's work every Friday. This will get the younger students more acquainted with technology, while encouraging their parents to take an active role in their child's education. One pitfall, however, may be that the parents will simply do the work for the child, but that could be the case in any circumstance.
Just some food for thought.
I think that you have a very good point! I could have a monthly assignment (since I only see students once a week, that would give them four lessons with me in class to make sure they understand the assignment - which is similar to something assigned on Monday that needed to be posted by Friday) that parents could post if the students weren't technologically capable of doing it themselves. Thanks for the good idea!!!!
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