GottfriedIt is a little difficult for me to consider Lisa Gottfried's blog without factoring in all the things I know about her. She and I both are part of the original Digital Innovator's program with Napa Learns. We've spent many hours together trying to determine the best ways to inspire teachers to embrace innovation and bring technology into the classroom. This is what I know about her without even reading her entries; she is brilliant. This is not an exaggeration or rhetoric. She is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful people I have ever met, so it is no surprise that her blog is exemplary. Her presentation on all aspects of her project is thoughtful and clear. I could turn to any section and understand not only her thought process, but also the implications, examples and impact of the project as a whole. I really enjoyed when she included entries from her students as a deep look inside how everything can play out with actual students. I loved this thought that she penned, " How do we harness the power of blogging to get students jobs, create authentic writing tasks, and strengthen our learning community? " The idea that contained within the heart of her project was the idea of empowering students not just for now, but also for the future. Her target audience, teachers, were addressed at every turn. Her clarity of focus on demonstrating the ways that student blogging can enhance their learning and empower them for their own futures was clear within each page of her blog. She kept her main audience in front of her and it showed even in her choices for the student work she showcased. She was making a strong, and persuasive argument for the implementation of blogging in the classroom. DearbornAnn Dearborn's research project was also a close look at blogging in the classroom. Her project involved the use of blogs to encourage and improve student responses with their own and one another's reading. Her audience, like Gottfried, was teachers, and encouraged consideration for the use of this technique in more classrooms. Again her writing was tuned into her main audience - educators. Her reasons and research for the use of blogs within the classroom was clear, and she showed her thought process as she developed her thinking towards this technological integration within a reading classroom. I loved this question that she asked, " How could I make home reading more engaging for my students?" because it is one that many teachers ask themselves. The push to increase engagement and excitement with reading is the pot at the end of the rainbow that all teachers seek. SaslowAlexander Saslow's Build-a -Unit Toolbox is a project with science teachers at it's heart. His clear enlargements, and strong voice, compel you to understand that this toolbox will not only benefit science teachers, like himself, but all educators who desire to have a logical, streamlined and efficient method of planning lessons to support students. Saslow's title implies that he is reaching out to science teachers, but a more accurate description would be that he is speaking to all teachers and administrators who want their students to benefit from thoughtful connection between the never-ending world of standards and the everyday classroom. He makes this clear when he says, "This is the reason for this project - to make the standards accessible for ALL teachers." In all cases, it is not just the stated audience that comes across but rather that every aspect of their project is geared toward a specific goal - to enhance learning for students and to bring clarity and efficiency to the classroom. Toward this end, all three of these projects focus on speaking to teachers, but the result of their efforts is to benefit students.
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AuthorJen has been teaching school for awhile now. She's learned some stuff, but she's got tons more to learn. Archives
October 2017
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