Saturday, July 29, 2017
Observations of the RSS Blog
I'm very impressed with the quality and frequency of communication of the Russell Street School. It's nice to see a well-functioning blog in action. The RSS is doing a lot of things right; everything from the tone of the blog (personal and friendly, yet professional) to the frequency of communication. I was paying attention to the dates as I scrolled their TNB page where they make weekly announcements, individual class pages, calendar of events, and online assemblies. In many instances, posts are made weekly if not daily. There were a few class blogs who haven't posted yet this year but for the most part, they are very current.
Observing this school's' blog helped me realize that a blog doesn't have to be perfect to be effective. As I was reviewing their site I couldn't help but compare it to my personal style. I would never dream of posting a video where one of the pictures isn't oriented correctly so that a book appears sideways. If a picture didn't have great clarity or was pixelated, I would deem it unusable. Yet I saw both of these things on the RSS blog. Did it make this blog unappealing? Did it make parents not want to visit the blog? No. The importance is placed on greater concerns. When I perused the blog it looks like both teachers and students are really enjoying their educational experience. That is what the blog conveys.
I also found myself comparing the RSS website to that of our own school. Each teacher is required to keep a class blog at my school and we are encouraged to update it weekly, which most teachers do. Our blogs are very formal, however. I don't see as much variety and flavor as with the RSS blog. I'd like to see us be more personable and friendly, including student work, class projects or pictures and videos of musical concerts on our blogs. These things definitely occur at our school but we don't share them as well as the RSS does.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I find it very impressive that your school requires each teacher to keep a class blog. Most of the teachers at my school would throw a major fit if this were required of us. I think it is something I will have to begin on my own (with approval from administration) and see if I can get others on board. Maybe you could share the RSS website and blog with your school as an example of how blogging could be made better by allowing it to be more personable and creative.
ReplyDeleteI think I will share their page with our administration and tech coordinator. Good luck with getting people in your corner about blogging! Choose a platform that's user friendly and you'll have better luck.
DeleteMy school used to require each teacher to have a blog but then they decided it was too much work and made it optional. I also loved how each blog displayed student work! I think it is a such a positive place to show what amazing things are happening in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, you ladies are starting to make me think that they're asking a lot of us over at Compass when they ask us to update our blog weekly! It is work, but I think once the routine is established it's less of a burden. If it were optional, we wouldn't have the participation we do now, I know that! I really am anxious to see if I can get my blog arranged to create more interaction by posting student work for starters.
Delete