Tuesday, October 2, 2007

A New Focus for this Blog!

I have been thinking about how to effectively use this blog in conjunction with my 8th Grade Civics class, and I think I have come up with two ideas.

This blog could be a meeting place for my students to discuss current events. I could post an event each week and students could post reactions or ask additional questions. The blog could be the starting point for debate, and could also be a place for students to practice persuasive writing. That could be interesting...

Another thought I had was to make this site a place where I could hold "virtual office hours." Parents and students could post questions about assignments, and I could answer them. I have not looked into this yet, but if I could add a chat feature, this could actually be done in real time. I could post that I will be available from 7 to 9 pm on Thursdays, for example. Parents could log on and I could take questions live. I figure I am online anyway, why not make myself even more available to students and parents?

Geting Started

This is my first post! Yeah!

I am quite interested in how this could work in my classroom. I am currently using a different space to host my student's Portfolio's. The main reason is that Blogger is blocked in my school. I can see that Blogger is much more dynamic and visual.

I guess I will need to see if the Technology Department will be able to "unblock" Blogger.