I've discovered a really exciting way that teachers of gifted children can communicate with parents. After doing a Google search for school teacher blogs, I came across several creative teachers that are using blogs in a way I had not considered. They are using blogs to communicate with the families of their students. For example, in Mr. Wright's Third Grade Class blog, a teacher, Christopher Wright, is using his blog to keep parents up-to-date about his class at Wyman Elementary School (Rolla, Missouri). I think this is a wonderful way to use a blog. Mr. Wright posts all kinds of useful information on his blog:
- a calendar of class events (including field trips);
- a summary of what his kids are learning and what is going on in the classroom;
- the week's spelling list;
- pictures of the kids at work in the classroom;
- a reading log to be completed by students each week; and
- suggested web links that Mr. Wright would like his students and their parents to visit.
Mr. Wright also allows parents to post comments and ask questions about some of the activities taking place in his classroom.
Using a blog to communicate with parents can also be used by a school's staff to keep parents informed about school-wide matters. At Meriwether Lewis Elementary School (Portland, Oregon), the staff uses a school-wide blog to keep parents informed about important events and news about what is happening at the school. The staff at the school even selects books available at the local public library that families can read together that support learning activities at the school.
In the "Other Blogs" section on the left sidebar of my blog, you will find links to other teachers who are using blogs in creative ways. Not all teachers are using blogs the way Mr. Wright does. Many are using blogs to keep a diary of their classroom experiences, discuss teaching ideas, and share their views on topics. This is a more traditional use of a blog. I mention it here because I want to point out how flexible the blog format is.
The advantages of blogs are many.
- Blogs are free.
- Blogs are easy to use. Any teacher can set up a blog within a few minutes. Most hosting services have a help section that can be very useful to new bloggers.
- Parents can be automatically notified when you post new entries. Parents wishing to subscribe to your blog will be emailed whenever you post a new blog entry. That way you let parents know when you have new information available. Parents more familiar with using RSS and Atom feeds can subscribe using those subscription methods as well.
The easiest way to get a blog started is to visit one of the many free blog hosting services. I like Bloglines because the service makes it easy to set-up and maintain a blog, and it offers a simple method for tracking new postings to other blogs that you follow (I'm a fan of Macintosh computers, the Dilbert cartoon, and teacher blogs that are written like personal journals, so I use Bloglines to keep me posted whenever one of the 15 different blogs I like on these topics has a new entry). I've experimented with Blogger and had good experiences with it. Another big hosting service is TypePad, and I've heard good things about that service.
Blogging is free, easy, and fun. If you do start your own gifted education classroom blog, feel free to drop me a note with its address. I would be more than happy to post it as a link on this blog.