Online Portfolios

For my web portfolio I chose to use weebly.com. The sight is both professionally looking and EXTREMELY frustrating. It takes a lot of trial and error and a ton of patience. It seems that the steps change, and things dissapear and reappear for no reason.

Besides all of that, it is a nice free site for constructing web portfolios. I think it sets a high bar visually for web portfolios. I found it to be a great place to sort my notes and ideas, but I am at a point where I am wondering if I should start a second. Having one more as an online resume, and another for more specific classroom activities. In a way I see a need for both, but at the same time I think there is value in sharing your plans for the classroom as well. I will work on this in the weeks to come.

I can see students building something of this nature for themselves in relation to school work and personal achievements. Time will definitely be an issue in the classroom, and I think it is the type of thing that would also be developed during free time and at home/ library, etc. as well. It is my hope, that by sharing my portfolio and great examples of others, that students would choose to portray themselves to the world in a manner that is professional and classy. I think that the lack of building these in schools, can create some of the negative and inappropriate portrayals on sites like myspace.com and facebook.com that are literally ruining peoples lives.

Google Yourself

Interesting. I have done this before this assignment, and knew that most were from newspaper clippings and announcements from high school, that I didn't mind people seeing. However, I didn't like the facebook.com and facebook.com to your friends links and was frustrated with the annoying reuinion.com and classmates.com links. I don't use this, why is my name here? I am wondering if there is a way to remove yourself from these?

95 Reasons...

While searching for educational blogs, I came across Spotty Banana Homeschool. The blog is attractive and well done. It offers perspective on educational news, and acts an incredible source for learning that can take place in the traditional classroom, outdoors as well as in the home. Teachers and families would find this site useful, it shows how the activites that you do, and the many places you go, can provide valuable learning opportunities. The blog has ideas for lessons, links to current topics in education and tips from people who devote their time to teaching chilldren.

Under the links at Spotty Banana, one name caught my eye, Little Blue School. This mom is homeschooling her two children, and captures these experiences in a way that will leave you inspired. She is ORGANIZED, and has a major list of lessons and activities for children. Her latest "95 Reasons I Love T-Bone" post was great! I can see sharing this example with students, and asking them to complete similar statement, "95 Reasons..." This could be used in all subject areas, during holidays or special occasions: THiNK: Valentine's Day, Mother's Day-Father's Day, elections, favorite/particular: season, book, food, color, activity, on and on and on. Causing students to find 95 ways to represent their statement would create an expansion of thought, use a great deal of vocabulary and act as a a great means of getting to know your students.

As I was creating this blog, a friend of mine began one as well. The premise of The Staggering Lummox is political. He finds an article and provides his take on the situation via the blog. The ability to research a topic, including images, video, song, newspaper, etc, and then describe, support, elaborate would be a great method for students to organize a subject studied. I can see this being used for an on-going student inquiry on a topic of their choice, (or a set topic). Specific Tasks or Expectations would be provided along the way to guide the process, but the final outcome would be largely up to the students. The blog would act as a journal, as a a visual representation of the topic and as a source for communication at multiple levels including: teacher to student- student to student- and student to experts around the world.

Take a deep breath...

I have to admit I was skeptical of joining the blogging world. I pictured someone sitting solo, ranting and raving about some obscure cause. I was intimidated and afraid of the unknown. However, I have realized a new resource of information, a way to organize online and an outlet for creativity. As a future teacher, I'm excited about the many ways that blogs can be incorporated into the classroom. From giving parent a means of keeping up with classroom activities and announcements, to offering students an opportunity to communicate with their peers both in their classroom and around the world. Blogs can be used to enhance student learning and I look forward to finding ways to utilizing them in lessons.