Impressions of Russell Street School

At first glance the Russell Street School's website appeared similar to other school websites I typically come across, however as I browsed around I quickly noticed a few interesting differences.  The Russell Street School uses a blogging platform as its main website which, in my opinion, has some advantages over a "standard" website.

Using a blogging platform as a school website allows parents and community members to follow what is happening in the school through the use of RSS.  Effective communication between a school and its community is beneficial on many levels and RSS can be a tremendous tool to keep everyone informed.  The blog is set up neatly and the posts are in chronological order which makes announcements very easy to find.

In my opinion, the greatest feature of Russell Street School's website was the individual class sites.  Using a blog as a classroom or individual portfolio has amazing potential, especially as technology continues to improve.  For example, the "Little Einsteins" page is dedicated to the classroom activities of 5 year old students.  Parents are able to actually see the activities that their children participated in during the day and have those important conversations about learning in the home.  I was impressed with the 6S classroom as their page was clean and neatly organized into different subject areas.  Not only were the lessons and activities available to view, but each individual child had their own page with recorded activities.

The Russell Street School seems to be setting a good example of how blogs can be used to showcase what goes on inside the classroom.  I could absolutely see blogs being used as portfolios for seniors in high school for their graduation projects!