The Russell Street School blog provides a wealth of information for the world about their latest and greatest happenings. Teachers, students, and administrators post pertinent information to the school's blog, which is relevant and up-to-date. Static, obsolete info doesn't seem a reality here (although I did notice a few of the pages that are connected to this blog aren't all updated - the library's last post was in 2015, but I bet that'll change in no time), which gives the sense that the entire staff is on board, working together for the common good. What a statement to the world!
The RSS feeds (which include links to various classes in the school, among other things) are valuable resources for teachers, students, and families, so they have insight into what's going on in each classroom and can view what their students are up to. I noticed quite a few of the classroom pages were set up by students themselves, which provides a "portfolio" feel to the class, giving the reader a sense that the students are actively involved in their educations.
The updates from various clubs, departments, and the school itself are also helpful in keeping in-tune with important notifications, important meetings, and key dates. In an age where parents are busier than ever and tend to use tech devices to manage their daily lives, I can see how subscribing to this feed (via email updates or the RSS phone app, for instance) would be of great benefit.
As a teacher who leads an exchange trip and advises a club or two, I appreciate how everything can be found on one single page. And thinking about just how many more departments, clubs, exchanges, sports, etc. are offered at my school, I think establishing a similar blog would be awesome to keep parents up-to-date with all that is going on. I do believe our "constituents" would appreciate it as well. However, I think we'd almost need a curator of the blog - someone to prompt teachers to keep their pages up to date, as even with something like SeeSaw, ensuring teachers keep up would be a hard sell. I also am not sure our district tech department would be sold on it, unless it'd be under their supervision, which would add to their workload, as then every school in the district would need to have a blog to ensure equity (which equals a lot of schools).
Another note, as has been mentioned many times: Privacy might be a concern, as faces and names of students are published. I'm betting there's a disclaimer sent out to all the families for legal purposes, though. I know my high school sends something like that out, and if the parents/guardians choose not to sign, their student's picture cannot be published online.
Note the Cyberpolicy Ryann mentions in her post. Apparently each child's journal is kept private from others except for what is posted to the class blog, which the teacher monitors.
ReplyDeleteI asked you about the PTA in a different response. I'd also be curious to know what teachers in your department might say to starting something as a pilot within that department. As you said, everyone would have to be on board in order for it to be successful. How is that kind of talk usually received in your meetings? ~ Todd
The talk in our meetings is hesitant, as a lot of my department, in particular, is made up of older teachers who aren't comfortable with technology and/or hesitant to do "one more thing".
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