Blogging

= Examples of Blogging Technologies =

Twitter

 * Macy Stewart **


 * I chose to explore the twitter site and ways it could be used in the classroom or by other educational providers. This is a free site that allows users to send short messages out to their "followers" on the site. Teachers can use this tool to keep parents and students informed about what is going on in their classroom. The only downfall to using this site is that it may not be easily accessible or appropriate for students in an early education classroom. ECE teachers would probably use this site to communicate with parents about ideas and activities they can use at home with their children.

I created a twitter account called techtools4tots. With this account teachers could post different technology tools that parents could use at home. This would help parents have a resource and a way of connecting with their child's teacher.

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**"Bloggin' it up!"**
Tiffany Smith

Ok! So I chose blogs along with many others. I realize you really have to look a lot to find good educational blogs. This is my first time ever even looking at blogs so I was in a little over head at first! I love using the computer and it was fun to pull out my creative juices and ideas in creating my own blog. This is my whole strategy: a place for future teachers, past teachers, parents, caregivers, etc. to communicate with each other about different interesting ideas to share with young children. I think there should be more sites targeted to the "student teacher". Perhaps current teachers and past teachers and education students can share insights and shed a little light in aiding the "student teacher" in making the most of their education.

Ok so about my example! It's called "Creative Little Things" Mainly what I did was make a place where people can post cool new sites that supply people with interesting materials and ideas for furthering a child's creativity. Enjoy!

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Blogging!
Megan Stafford

I chose to create an example of my technology tool on blogspot.com! I am very interested in blogging when it comes to creating one and being able to connect with parents and students outside of the classroom. I believe blogs can be a very good way of communicating. On the blog I created, I can post blogs and parents/students could respond with comments as they wish. Pictures can also be posted to get parents really into our classroom. Blogs can also be made private so that only certain people can access it, which is a great feature. The other two blogging websites that I explored were wordpress.com and blogsome.com. Any of them could be used by teachers to connect to their early childhood audience.

@http://meganstafford.blogspot.com/

=Blog!= Danielle Johnson

I chose the website called Weebly Education. I hope to use this website in my future classroom. Weebly allows teachers to create a website for their classroom and blog. Teachers are also able to accept homework on-line through this site and manage student's accounts easily with just a click of a mouse. This site also keeps parents up to date and is easy to navigate around. It is free, anyone can use it and and there are no advertisements. Teachers can manage their sites and keep the site protected for the students. It offers numerous multi-media features and over seventy beautiful designs to choose from. This is a new site so every month or so they continue to improve and add more features. The blogging features are extremely flexible and most teachers post classroom updates, homework assignments, and news for parents. If students are sick they can easily check on-line for their assignments, complete them, and then submit them without having to leave the bed. Here is an example:

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Blogging!
Gayle Smotherman

I choose to investigate the use of blogs in ECE classrooms. It's pretty amazing the kind of information that can be shard through these websites. I even found some teachers that shared activity plans over their own blogs. The three websites I evaluated were blogger.com, carepages.com, and classblogmeister.com. I was particularly interested in the use of carepages.com because I know many individuals who have used this site to keep in touch with family and friends while battling life threatening illnesses. I think this site could be useful for a child who wants to stay connected with his or her classmates in the event of an extended hospitalization. Connections like this are so important for children, especially the school-aged child. Unfortunately, you have to actually be a patient to create one of these blogs, so my example is a blog I created on blogger.com.

@http://gaylesmo-justasmalltowngirl.blogspot.com/

**BLOG!**
Erin Misch

Out of all of the technology examples presented, I chose blogging because I found it the most interesting! I had never heard of blogging used as a way of communicating in young children's classrooms. But, when I first heard of it I immediately thought of how great it could be to use as a means of communication between the teacher and the parents. Or specifically, since I am most interested in the lives of hospitalized children and the challenges they face, I was very interested in the use of blogs for the hospitalized children or the child's parents to communicate with teachers, friends, or family members about thier child's illness. I evaluated lemonadeblog.com, childrenshealthblog.com, and momsandtechnology.blogspot.com. For example, lemonadeblog.com was especially useful for Alex, a young child with cancer, to communicate with his friends and family in a way that wouldn't be possible otherwise. Also, his mother has used this blog as an outlet for her feelings and emotions, something that will help her be even more supportive of her child. I know from personal experience how instrumental a blog can be in the life of a family with an ill child.

@http://ebm718.blogspot.com/

**Family Bloggers!**
Mollie Mitchell

My example is so fun to have around the house while raising children. It is based out of England, but none the less very informative. Every dynamic of parenting is included in this site. The site is not only a blogging site, but a web 2.0 tools as well. There are multiple ways to communicate and participate in comments and feedback. I am not sure how a teacher in a classroom could technically use this, maybe the teacher could give developmentally feedback on a parents concern for example. There are ways I am sure that it could be used. I am most interested in this site because I want to ultimately be a mother. I certainly don't want to rely on opinions and advice from outsiders but as a tool for fun activities to do with my children during the holiday seasons and other fun activities for the down time in the summer it certainly serves as a great resource. Here is an example of an activity. Go ahead and make a fun frog!

@http://family.go.com/entertainment/craft-ff-24580-paper-frog-puppet-t/

**WallWisher**
Kelsey Bone I really like this website. I think think that it could be useful in classroom or with families. You get to build your own wall and incorporate different types of information. In the classroom it could be used to easily access information found online throughout the day or as a means of communication with parents to get their feedback on things that are happening in class. At home you could send a link to you "wall" to different family members and post different photos or even artwork that children have completed. The content that is posted on your "wall" is edited and maintained by the creator, which allows for creativity and monitoring. Overall this was easy to use and could really be a fun way for people to interact!

@http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/CHFD5130