Ideas for Teacher Blogs

Blogs have become popular tools in our school system. Not only does just about every school maintain is fairly active blog, but quite a few of our teachers are finding blogs to be fun and easy way to communicate. If you are looking for ideas for the types of things to include on your blog, or if you would like to see samples of what others have done, this site may provide you the needed help.

I posted this same message to my own personal blog a couple of weeks ago, and received a comment from Dave Sherman, principal of South Park Elementary School in Deerfield, Illinois. They have quite a new blogs and wikis that he invites us to visit at this address.

Blogs Take Off With Dega Band

Those who have worked with blogs realize how easy they are to update. The THS Band is using blogs to help students communicate with each other.

Summertime is busy for band students. With full band rehearsals, sectional rehearsals, band camp, uniforms to fit, and equipment to keep in tip-top shape, keeping everyone informed can be a challenge.

Each section in the band has established its own blog. For example, this blog for the Dega Darlins not only keeps them informed of information they need to know, but it also has links down the left-hand side which take the reader to blogs for the other sections of the band.

Gone are the days when staying informed meant keeping up with pieces of paper (and hoping none were passed out on the very day you weren't there). With blogs, everything you need to know is posted in reverse chronological order. It's not going to get lost. You can view it from anywhere. If you are absent, you don't miss the handout. This just may work!

The Blogging School

As I am writing this post, I am listening to a podcast of a session Tim Tyson conducted on blogging. In the podcast, he explains how and why he started blogs in his school as well as how teachers used them. For those who have had some involvement with posting to blogs, I think you are going to find this podcast well worth your time. You can listen by going here. Some of the content can be used to reinforce our existing ideas and other content will allow us to expand some of those ideas.

Speaking of expanding ideas, imagine sometime in the future, a parent checks his/her e-mail. If something new has been posted to the school's blog, the school system's blog, or the blog of any one of the student's teachers, that post rolls right off into the parent's e-mail. Wouldn't communication be easier?

The good news is that "sometime in the future" is right this minute. It's called RSS (Really Simple Syndication), it's free, and it's the magic that makes keeping up your favorite blogs very simple.

I had talked about the concept, and the free software I use with Outlook, here. You can watch a video of it by going here.

New Blogs Composed by Our Teachers

Three teachers from Hal Henderson have created their own blogs following last weeks professional development. Check them out:

Kathy Clay kathyclay.blogspot.com
Sharion Gooden goodenclass.blogspot.com
Karen Mann karenmann.blogspot.com