Let's all Take a Page

Russell Street School has it going on in all the right places! Now I know this may sound like something from a fanboy, or somebody who's followed Russell Street School closely, which is neither the case. When I initially looked at the school's staff and student blogs, I was quite impressed with the amount of information they have been adding.

What really caught my eye first hand is was the amount of colorful cheerful images of the students who are deeply engaged in their learning experiences. When we look at RS, Russel Street, we can find how the administrators, staff, and parents value the experiences that the students who attend go through. The extra time that the teachers and administrator put into the blog clearly show just how much they value student learning.  What really caught my eye was how this enabled them to communicate not just for the district but for the public. This moves well beyond ways of communication through email and phone. This gives the public first hand of what is occurring in the classroom. Moving beyond communication, with the amount of documentation that the teachers put in, gives them the abilities to showcase their artifacts through a portfolio, which gives the teachers a way to track the year's projects, and reflect at the end of the year.

What really impressed me was the amount of the interaction that the student participated in. The one thing that really impressed me was how their blogs were attached to student portfolios. What a way for parents to see student growth at the end of the year! I know that there are different ways in which we educators want our students to capture student learning, and want students to reflect on their learning. This was a great way in which the students captured their learning as it happened, allowing details not be lost in the absence of not doing it right away.

All in all, I think we can all take a page from RS. The way they were able to capture student learning and communicate with the public is something we all should strive for in terms of blogging. The extra hours and documentations help create an environment in which students, administrators, staff, and parents can all be proud of.

Impression of the Russell Street School

I had a rush of reactions while exploring the various blogs at the Russell Street School. I was extremely impressed and couldn't help but self-reflect on my own situation and the plans I have for the upcoming year.

My first thoughts were about the importance of communication with the public. I am personally creating a blog with that goal in mind. It is extremely importance to showcase the amazing things that happen in our classrooms, especially when it comes to garnering support from our communities. Many of the posts from my classmates expressed very positive feedback after viewing the blogs and that is regardless of test scores and academic achievements. We can all tell that something wonderful is going on there because it is quite evident through the blogging. I would guess that many of have similar scenarios in our schools that go unseen by the public so they only focus on what they CAN see. We have the power to present ourselves in a positive light and blogging provides an excellent vehicle for that.

I also was struck by the importance of school-wide participation and how that is clearly a large part of what makes this project so successful. It's almost like a check for the teachers who can ask themselves "what am I doing today that is blog-worthy?". I have a feeling that many teachers have stepped up their game and been inspired by the work of their colleagues. How many of us can say we know much about what happens in all the other classrooms in our building? Something like this could lead to wonderful opportunities for teachers to work together and have students work together across multiple content areas.

In that same vein, I bet this has a similar effect on students and their attitudes toward doing quality work. It must be very empowering to be able to blog and share the fruits of their labor with those outside the classroom. I know for my EdTech courses there is a level of seriousness and quality that I am driven to achieve knowing that my work is often made public through my learning log.

Lastly, I am starting to see the power of blogging from an archival perspective as well. Think of being able to look back over years of work and see how teaching and products have progressed. I look forward to being able to do this myself and I think it's another excellent motivator to keep pushing the envelope by evolving projects and trying new things. I wouldn't want to look back and see that I've been using the same old materials and assignments and getting the same results!

Russell Street Bloggers

After taking a cruise through the Russell Street School blog and website, I am blown away. I could have been on that site for hours. It is so amazing to me that kids are blogging at such a young age. It is something I am still getting used to but is something these kids are so used to. After thinking about what was going on at this school for a little while, I came up with a few main thoughts:

1. I am jealous my school is not at this level: I tried blogging with the students in my classroom and was not very successful at it. No other teacher in my school has probably considered blogging with their students. Yet here is this school, the entire school, blogging about life in the classroom and what happens during their school day. HOW COOL! I wish I could get a blog going in my classroom, let alone in my entire school!
   
2. Student involvement and engagement: each class in this school has their own blog, which means that every kids in the school has the opportunity to participate in blogging. Right there, kids are getting experience with a 21st century skill and are becoming comfortable publishing their writing, as well as posting it online.
   
3. Parent involvement and communication: Involvement and communication with parents seems as though it would be outstanding. Parents can go to one place and see what is happening in every room in the school. They can get posts about what their kids did that day or view a reminder about an upcoming event. Parents could comment on posts and interact with their kids if they chose.
   
4. Ownership: Although posts by kids are riddled with spelling errors, as they grow older, they will take ownership of their writing and want it to be error free because they know the world can view it. This will help with intrinsic motivation to learn spelling, grammar and organization of writing. Kids are learning so many skills through this process. 

Overall, I think what this school has accomplished is amazing and I think that other schools look to as an example. I think there are some negatives or concerns with blogging, some of which are put on display here, but that is an entirely new topic. For now, I say this school has done a fantastic job! 

Digging deeper with Blogs - Looking into Russell Street School

It is clear that Russell Street school is at the forefront of technology being used in classroom practices.  Their about page discusses how elearning is a part of their  “key features.”  Further the school encourages the use of elearning to better connect the community and the families of the students.  My first thoughts were how do they manage informing parents and making sure students, especially in the younger grades, are using technology appropriately and safely.  But then I came across their elearning page which shared a plethora of documents that provide info cyber safety and help for parents.  This helped me to see all of the ground work this school clearly has in place for all digital work done by teachers and students.

As I looked through the blogs shared on this site, I could see how positive and powerful blogs like this could be.  There was a vast array of blogs for each class.  Some that were written by the teachers, some that shared images of students working, some that shared student work, and some that included student comments.  I found the blogs with student work and images of students working to be the most powerful.  I can see that blogs like these would excite parents and the community and help gather support for promoting technology in the school.  

In addition, the blogs gave the students voice.  Students work was shared through the blogs, as well as, students were able to comment on the posts.  I think it is a prime example of how this school has adopted student centered learning, as well as, promoting 21st century skills for their students, even at as early as the elementary ages.  I’m encouraged by the Russel Street School’s use of blogs and other technologies.  And can see how they could benefit an entire community.  This would be huge in continuing student use of blogs/educational technologies outside of the classrooms.  I also loved that the site shares that the school still uses construction paper and scissors and that “where technologies provide no additional benefits they will not be used.”  Very Interesting!

Food for Thought

Katy Cooper, Summer 2016 EdTech 537 student

Walking through the Russell Street School website, blogs and Google Site definitely challenges some of my thinking about the potential benefits of blogging in the classroom. Here are some of my thoughts:

I recognize that the blogging platform has bolstered communication in so many ways. I first notice that between student and teacher, there is a record of interaction and assessment. That can be powerful in reminding students what they did well or what they might need to focus on for future work that is dealing with the same skill. It also can extend the conversation beyond/outside of the classroom. This definitely ups the potential growth opportunities. I can only imagine that this also increases the communication between teachers and parents, with many skills and activities documented and on display, one would think there are fewer misunderstandings between the two. I would also like to think this allows parents to interact with their child differently than if they don’t know what is going on in their classroom during the week. The descriptions, images, and videos of activities and learning provide ample material for parents to continue the conversations at home. Coming from the middle school level, where many parents claim their students are mute at home and share nothing, I can see how this would be a great way to counteract that tendency.

I can imagine that the extra time the teacher puts in to maintaining the blog is worth the benefits it provides. Beyond communication, I can see this type of documentation being an amazing asset when it comes to the new form of teacher evaluations (at least in Washington State). The new evaluation often requires a portfolio of evidence to supplement the administrators observations. What a wonderful resource to access at the end of the year, rather than trying to figure out how you can go back and show your work throughout the year.

I also noticed that many classes have student blogs attached that work as a student portfolio. There are other ways to achieve a similar idea (an electronic portfolio), but I like that thoughts and products are documented as they happen, and might be less likely to be erased or lost. Also, being able to articulate the activity you did and the skill you practiced sounds like a great way to reinforce learning and build skills for life after high school. That is real-world application for even these young students to be practicing on a regular basis.

I do wonder if any of the parents have an issue with pictures of their student being placed on the internet, seemingly in a very public manner. As a parent that might make me nervous, though, a quick adjustment with privacy settings would probably calm my worries. 

Russell Street School (My Impression)

What an interesting glimpse into the school experience of these lucky little Kiwis. I have three nephews who live in New Zealand and went through the school system, so I was particularly interested in this virtual trip.

Like many of you, I was immediately struck by the cheerful looking students deeply engaged in a variety of learning experiences. The administrators, teachers, and parents of RS obviously value authenticity, creativity, and self-expression and go out of their way to instill these traits in the students.

I found the students' blogs quite endearing. Although they probably don't realize it, these students are learning to become comfortable with writing--something that strikes fear into many a grown-up heart. Their posts may be filled with grammatical and spelling errors, but these students are learning at a young age that their words, and those of their friends, are important and worthy of being shared. As a parent, I know that I would so appreciate these peeks into my children's school days both from their own and their teachers' perspectives.

Thoughts on the Russell Street School Blog - NZ

I enjoyed getting a glimpse into education and students in another country. It was interesting to see what we have in common and things that differ a bit. I found the choice of using a blog for the school website interesting. Most of the schools in my area that are public are connected on the district's website for their school. Private schools in the area have their own websites, but not blogging platform websites. I wonder about the different policies for school communications across countries, states, and communities. One thing that would come into play in setting up the school communications in the way they have is cost. They have a great platform to distribute information and interact for far less money than keeping up a private website.

 One of the things that looking through the sites connected blogs made me think about is who ultimately is in charge of the school blog and things connected to it. From using a small class blog for reflection in my presentational communications class, I know that reading entries and making sure everything posted is appropriate is a time consuming process. If the class blogs were private for students and parents, I wouldn't think it would matter as much but if content is available to the public, I know my school would be all over it to make sure it fit with our mission, values, even rules about logo use etc. I wonder what it is like to balance the class blog with the other daily activities of teaching. I did notice there is a cybersafety agreeement that the parents and students sign that says a student won't post listed personal information without permission from a teacher, but in today's world I wonder if that is enough? Cyber predators could use the first names of students, their work posted, and their pictures to make contact or start a conversation with a student without much effort. Now, in reality, is that any more likely than with students' personal social media use or family posting pics on facebook etc.? Probably not, but I wonder about the school's legal responsibilities in the US regarding stuff like this. Perhaps, it's just that I work in a school district where we have tightly controlled social media and postings.

Do I think it's awesome? Do I like what they are doing? Absolutely. The blog site for the school is engaging and the class blogs are being used in a way that lets students use critical 21st century skills. I just wonder if the blogs being available to the public as opposed to available to the community (including parents) is that much more beneficial. While publishing work is something all students should be learning to do and a necessary step in PBL etc., how do we archive or deal with the years of student work that will be available to the public over their academic careers. Will these posts they wrote in 3rd grade be a part of their digital footprint? I wonder what things we haven't thought of yet, will come into play in the future with this new frontier of learning.

Russell Street School Blogging

Guest blog post by Cassie Davenport, technology instructional coach with DC Public Schools.

So many thoughts...

While looking through the blogs of the Russell Street School, a few questions and thoughts came to mind. First I think it is phenomenal that all the teachers have a blog and seem to update them fairly regularly. I wondered what was the work behind the scenes to set the stage for this level of participation? Who is the admin team that is so committed to asking/requiring this lift from their teachers? I wonder if all classroom teachers were onboard due to a conference, a training or a personal mindset they already had when they were hired. I wonder if this is shared at potential new teacher interviews and thoughts and mindset are gauged then - when they are seeking to bring new staff onto the school team.

This does not seem easy to get the whole school blogging. And more importantly, I would imagine a lot of work went into presenting this idea in a way that didn't feel like another requirement of the teachers, but rather something they believed in doing. And then the big question, what sort of training did the school use for their staff?

Logistics & Impact

 Then I was also curious about what the requirement is for staff. Are all of the classrooms blogging? Are they asked to produce a certain amount of content or is it up to the teachers? And then what are the media release or confidentiality laws or district rules for this school? And also, without belaboring the point, who is in charge of the website at their school site? Is this a teacher, admin, district office employee or volunteer? It would be very cool if a researcher did a case study with the workings around this program at Russell Street or if the school were to panel at a tech conference, it would be fascinating to hear their thoughts on logistics and impact.

Of course, there are ways you would want to see the blogs be used differently. I wondered how long the school has been using the blogging model. Increased student contribution seems to be something teachers are using the SeeSaw blog for now. I noticed quite a few blogs that have the SeeSaw e-portfolio pulled into the blog as the home page or separate tab. This is where I noticed the most student talk or contribution through photos of writing or videos in the Educreation/ShowMe style. And when parents commented, I noticed it was through SeeSaw and not the blog posts themselves.

Student Thoughts

Lastly, I wondered what the students thought of the blogs. Are these authentic and motivating for students? Do students feel that this is a great way to share their work with their parents, peers, teachers and the world. In the world of project-based learning, such an emphasis is placed on presenting work for others in an authentic way. I wondered if these blogs are impactful and motivational for the students to keep learning and sharing. I would imagine that they are, but would love to know if this is the case for the students at Russell Street.

Again, I think getting a school site to this level is amazing. For this many classes to be trying their hand at blogging is commendable. I have lots of questions, however, they are in a great place to motivate student learning!

Thoughts about Russell Street School

For the past two years I have tried to up keep a blog for my parents/guardians. I love any chance I can get to see other classroom blogs, so naturally I was drawn to Russell Street School and had a great time browsing their website and google site. I don't know if I was visually blown away about the technology in the classroom. I definitely got the impression technology was used and implemented in a successful way. What blew me away was the resources the students have access to. I was impressed with the unity of the school that was shown through blogs. I appreciated the tab aspect to help organize and steer visitors. It was exciting to see blogs in action as a school.

I loved how simple each post was. They were just trying to highlight something going on in their classroom. I like to imagine they have kept it simple to maybe strike up a conversation with their child about their day. The school seemed to be family centered and maybe this was a way to bring com munition within the family. 

Russell Street School...An example to follow!

If only American schools could exude the same enthusiasm for learning as the Russell Street School. I was struck by the value placed on the arts, creativity, and self-reflection. I thought about how the class blogs captured the learning in a way that even someone from another country could appreciate. 

The teachers use of pictures with caption-like descriptions give a glimpse into the classroom without overwhelming the reader. While the teachers did the majority of the blogging, their posts were written in “kid language” and from the student perspective. This gave the feeling that the classroom really did belong to the children. What a powerful message to send to the community. I also really enjoyed seeing the evolution in peer feedback between the grades. The younger children primarily gave their schoolmates compliments such as “great work!” while older children have obviously been taught about constructive feedback and offered concrete suggestions for improvement. The incorporation of digital portfolios within the blog gives students a purpose and an authentic audience for their work. Many of these principles are things that I could easily incorporate into my own classroom. I think this would go a long way towards increased parent involvement and support.

Russell Street School - NZ

So this school is doing a great job in using technology and blogs to share events, learning, and activities. It is interesting to see the student blogs that share their learning and events and the school pages that share school information such as sports programs, reporting frameworks, and other school related events such as concerts or celebrations.  They have an excellent support page for e-learning that provides information and help for parents and students regarding cyber safety and digital learning.  I did look at a student page from a class post and was surprised to find out how much information they are allowed to share. I wonder whether sharing of personal information is not covered in cyber safety lessons from the teacher or administrator? I did think the navigational organization was a bit confusing in some class pages that also incorporated student developed pages.

Anyhow I do like how they incorporate google applications in class presentations and use both media and images to share their experiences when blogging. In fact I like how they use the blog as a portfolio of learning not only for students but for classes as well. I suppose I quite enjoyed seeing this example since the infrastructure and technology I am afforded is in the dark ages and it is nice to see a vision and potential of e-learning possibilities for schools and children. This is great example of student centred learning.  Thanks for sharing.

Impressions of Russell Street School

After viewing the site for Russell Street School I had a few reactions. At first, I was blown away by the amount of content that the site (and each sub site) had and consistently it was updated. I explored more looking at the school's "About" section and was quite impressed by the student-centered culture that they have established. It seems as though they have admin, staff, and students highly involved in the production of the digital format, which is great! Checking into the classroom side, it was awesome to see that all grade levels were represented in a unique, grade-appropriate way. I especially enjoyed the Jump Start groups' pictures with them writing their names.

My other impression of the site is that it is quite overwhelming. With multiple social media platforms, email, class website, newsletters, etc. I felt as though it was just another place to check for information. If I were a parent of a student at this school, it would be awesome to see what they were doing on a daily basis, looking at their specific class. As a teacher, I first thought, "Hey! this is awesome, I could totally do this!" Then selfishly, (just being honest!) I struggled, thinking about the extra time that it would take to not only post, but add in multi media such as photos, video clips, etc. which I can imagine takes time. I would love to see a high school version of this, as I would be interested in seeing the student accountability for posting. I also wondered how do you decide whose work is represented? Having 100+ high school students a year, it would be unrealistic to post each student's work in every post. I do similar posts like this for my classroom Twitter, randomly choosing students and their work and wonder how many parents actually see/appreciate these posts. I wonder the same for the traffic of this site.

Don't get me wrong, I think it is a great site that definitely didn't happen over night. It is encouraging to see all staff involved and they seem to hold one another accountable. Getting the students involved is another positive. If parents are frequently visiting and using the site as a means of receiving updates and communication, then it would definitely be worth implementing. I personally would prefer a short and sweet tweet that gives class updates because it is the quickest and most effective way that I can get information out about what is going on in my classroom. It may be different for you depending on the subject, grade, and school in which you teach. What do you think? Do you prefer blogging or Twitter? Or do you like a combination of both?

Takeaways From Russell Street School

As I clicked through the various links and blogs on the Russell Street School site, the impression that grew ever stronger was how student-centered this school is. The kids are the highlight of almost everything I looked at. Their words, images, dances, and achievements are noticed and celebrated publicly. Teachers are woven throughout the site, with their support evident everywhere I looked. Technology is immersive, and it is obvious that it is second nature, rather than an afterthought.

Every class has a blog, and each blog has several tabs, making it very easy to find information. Most have an information tab for parents to quickly see what is happening in the classroom and any upcoming events or activities. The Superheroes Notices page contains lots of great information, including evidence of a theme for each term, which they are calling an inquiry. The focus is health if anyone is interested. Whole school collaboration is mentioned, and it is obvious that there will be some project based learning happening within this theme. There is a second theme that falls under Te Reo Māori, which, if I am using my knowledge of language correctly, probably translates to “I Am Māori”, but when put into Google Translate, translates to simply “Language”. This terms language theme is about family, furthering the already strong commitment to keeping families actively engaged in their children’s learning. I love seeing the pictures of the students, students posting, teachers posting and many asking for parents to participate in the blogs by responding to anything that catches the eye. Looking through this site is making me rethink my stance on creating a classroom blog. I am still not sure what this would look like without breaking confidentiality, but it is now definitely something I am considering.

The word on The Russell Street...

My perspective about The Russell Street Elementary School in New Zealand might be a little different than the other posts on this blog. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about instructional designs or schools in K-12 education because I teach at the College/University level. My only comparative reference is my son's school and I'm not sure what the differences look like between his and my classmates' schools from EdTech537. I recognize some of the same teaching techniques I have learned in higher education such as student centered design and mega-cognition. My son's school was also considered one of the most technological ones in Boise. It didn't seem that much different except for the blogging aspect. I am not sure that I was particularly impressed. It seemed obvious that The Russell Street School is private or a charter type of school due to the fact that they only enroll a certain number of students. Therefore, it is my opinion that the blogs were just propaganda and advertising to parents who were thinking about enrolling their children or who needed validation for enrolling them. It seemed like the teachers just blogged about what  kids were doing. I didn't see kids themselves write opinions or post their own presentations (like my son made on Google Slides here in Boise in 1st grade). Sorry everyone, I guess I just wasn't as impressed as you. On a side note, I did read that New Zealand is desperate for teachers and is recruiting American ones with great wages and benefits. 

Russell School Street Impressions

Author: Katie Lauritsen - Boise State University Graduate Student

WOAH! - That is my first impression. Second, I WANT THAT IN OUR SCHOOL.

Seriously, the amount of communication between home and school is excellent and all in one place (thanks to RSS). It is nice to see that the parents can access information daily about the school and each class. In regards to the student and teacher blogs, many more things popped up:

• Reflection
• Home-school Connection
• Creativity
• Connection to learning

The teacher on many blogs posts current events in their own classroom, such as visitors, current books being read and other resources the students used in the class. This allows for more open communication between students and their parents/guardians. Often times, students come home and get asked the same old question, "What happened at school today?" or "How was school?" and they say "Good" or "Nothing". These blog posts open lines up and allow students to express their feelings about school more.

I like the freedom of some of the student posts, though I feel that some sort of direction may be better - like certain topics or questions, as the younger students seem to trail off sometimes. When they do post about certain topcs, such as my favorite posts "What I thought" and "What I know now" with scanned visuals of classwork. What an excellent way to reflect on their own learning!

Last impression was the fact the students on one blog had posted a video about appropriate commenting on blogs in a video. What an important way to incorporate rules and policies of using the internet with an authentic purpose. Probably much more efficient than an AUP they read and sign. I wonder how long it took teachers to incorporate these blogs into their lessons and activities and how the parents feel about the connection between technology and learning!

Impressions of Russell Street School Blog and Google Site

First of all, wow!  I had actually looked at the Russell Street School blog at the beginning of this class to get ideas for how to use my own blog.  There are so many astounding aspects.  I think the biggest takeaways for me are student involvement as well as teacher feedback.  It is the goal of many educators to have student participation to the fullest, and this seems to provide that.  Everyone likes compliments and these teachers are praising their students and their work directly on the blog.  Parents, students, staff members and the student that was given feedback, are able to see that.  That has to be a good feeling for all involved, but especially for the student who received the positive feedback.  To put the entire school’s educational experience for all to see makes everyone involved held accountable.  I really liked that even Kindergarten students participated. I really liked Room 2 Bright Bugs and Room 3 Tohora! These blogs specifically have given me great ideas for my own blogging as a first grade teacher.  Student involvement may look a little different than it does with older kids, but it still provides an opportunity to participate.  Also, I think that the ease of communication through their Google Site is efficient and at the fingertips of any parent.  This is very well organized and would be extremely helpful for any community. How wonderful, in the terms of communication, would it be to be a parent at this school? What a great use of technology for communication.

After viewing the blog and the Google Site in depth, it made me feel more behind than I thought. In no way do I feel like I need to compare myself to this blog since I am just a beginner blogger. I do think that I can take ideas from here and use it to help me begin my blogging experience once school starts. What a great example of using blogging and technology to pull the students, parents, staff, and community together.  It really is amazing!

Russell Street School Impressions

First off wow! This school is on top of things. If you are a parent of a student at this school you can never complain you don't know what is going on in the classroom or around the school. The teachers and administrators have to spend a great deal of time working on these blogs and need to be commended for their fantastic work. I am interested to see the amount of training these teachers go through to have a grasp on this blogging thing.

I am also impressed with the student blogs that are showcased here. Even the younger students are able to put their ideas out there for others to see. This would be a great way for elementary and middle school students to work on their writing and get constructive feedback from both their teachers and their peers. I would love to get something like this going at my school. Lack of communication is an issue that we face at my school and this could be a great way to keep our parents informed.

Russell Street School

Wow!  I am truly amazed by the Russell Street School website and student blogs.  The Russell Street School in New Zealand has created an informative, inspirational resource for their parents and the community. As I browsed the various features of the website, I couldn't help but think that they must have a full time web designer who created and regularly works on the site. I also explored a number of the classroom blogs and chose to focus on the Room 11 Poutokomanawa blog, as I concluded that this class was closest in age to my own 6th graders.
Some of the things I immediately liked about this blog were:

• The word clouds at the top of the blog.  I love the visual nature of word clouds and this drew me right in.
• The link to Inspirational Quotes - loved the quotes and pictures
• I appreciated that when you clicked on the author of each post, you were taken to a link with an avatar and other posts by the same author.  No personal information was included, which I believe is very important in a classroom blog.
• On the sidebar was a list of post criteria 
  

The only negatives I see with the Russell Street School website and blogs are:

• The website must require a lot of bandwidth as my computer took a long time to load the site and the fan on my computer went crazy trying to keep it from overheating!
• As I mentioned above, the site must require a lot of upkeep.  My school does have a full time IT department but we do not have a web designer employed specifically to keep up with a school website.  

Last year I did attempt a version of student blogging in our classroom.  Over the previous summer, I created a Weebly class website.  I had general information about our class; links for parents and students; a page for quotes, polls and other fun stuff; and a page that I had intended would be a student blog page. At the end of each school day, I envisioned the students writing on the blog a review of what we had covered that day for parents and students who were absent.  Let me just say, the blog lasted just over two months.  I found that the parents rarely, if ever, checked the site and the students bloggers at the end of the day really had no interest in writing the blog.

So...I am definitely reconsidering what I am going to do this year.  I have quite a few ideas and this class (EdTech 537) is helping me to flesh out exactly what our blogs will look like. I realize that the students need to be personally invested in their blogs.  I also think that individual blogs may be a better choice than a class blog, although this has pros and cons as well. Currently I am considering an app called SeeSaw which has a lot of the features I would like to use in a class blog.

By the way, I was curious to know what Poutokomanawa means and could not find it on the blog.  I looked it up and found this:

"A Poutokomanawa (wharenui) is a communal house of the Māori people of New Zealand, generally situated as the focal point of a marae. Wharenui are usually called meeting houses in New Zealand English, or simply called whare. Also called a whare rūnanga ("meeting house") or whare whakairo (literally "carved house"), the present style of wharenui originated in the early to middle nineteenth century."

Russell Street School Blogs - A School-wide Operation

CC-BY-2.0 by  sylviaduckworth 

The Russell Street School definitely shows the importance they place on blogging - by the school, teachers, and students. While perusing the blog and Google site, I was quite impressed with their use of technology (specifically blogs) to communicate with students and parents. This is a place parents can follow what is happening in class. Explanations are written by the teachers, there are photos of students in action, and student-created videos as well. I like that it is a one-stop-shop for resources (videos, stories, songs) and notices for parents. I also like that anyone can get to all of the individual class blogs and other school information from the main Google site – easy navigation will make it more likely that parents will follow the blogs.

It would be really great if all of the class blogs were more uniform in the types of information/tabs. I think there should be some differences since different grade levels are doing different things with the students, but a simple basic structure would make it even easier to understand. For instance, I really like the “About Us” page for Room 12-14:Pautama – where the teachers introduce themselves and what the blog is being used for. If parents are ok with both their child’s names and pictures being posted – then that’s great. But, if anyone is worried about child safety – maybe only using first names (as they are) and not labeling photos with student names could help with some safety worries. One small detail that would help cohesion would be for each blog to have the school logo somewhere in the heading (which links to the Google Site), so it is obvious that the Russell Street School teachers and students create all of these blogs. Overall though, this is a great use of using weblogs in education.

A Wow for the Russell Street School

First I want to say at 52 years old I want to learn how to perform a powerful and emotional Haka as well as those students from the Russell Street School, beautiful. I perused through different pages and found them to be so individually customized but all having an engaging theme. The common ground that I sensed, more than anything else, was that the posts spoke directly to the readers in a familiar way, not in an “instructional tone.” No doubt, this method is purposeful in speaking with the learners and parents alike, leaving no room for misunderstanding; thus getting everyone involved.

The page I was especially impressed with was “Rm12-14 Poutama.” The posts given were filled with encouraging words such as: growth mindset, brain food, drivers and blockers. These words, at first I had to think about for a bit, express an environment of learning and confidence, I get the feeling when the readers (student or parent) read these posts they understand exactly how it is intended, meaning the instructional language is the same whether given in school or online. My favorite, which I am noting to incorporate into my class, is the “home learning guide,” this gives the readers a basic but meaningful idea of what is expected of the learners while not in class, thus taking all the guess work out of it for the parents. Just when I’ve thought I have reached my creative maximum, this school ensures me that I am never done dreaming up new ideas to make my class run smoothly.

After reviewing the Russell Street School blogs, I'm just impressed. This school is doing so much for their students beyond the traditional reading, writing, and arithmetic. They are not only embracing the fact that these kids are digital natives that have grown up surround by technology, but they are also breeding (maybe another word is better) them. By publishing student work, Russell Street School is showing their students that what they do daily in school is important and worthy of recognition. I looked through some of the kids' personal blogs and really enjoyed reading their descriptions, evaluations, and feedback. These kids are learning to express themselves (through various creative means) at an impressively young age. It makes me wish I hadn't been so obsessed with Play-doh at their age. :)

The teachers at Russell Street School also seem to be going above and beyond to communicate with parents. I really like their strategy and wish that I could implement the same in my classroom. To post as much personal information as they do though, I wonder whether parents are given a permission option or if they are attracted to this school because of their technology usage.

These guys are digital machines!

After checking out the Russel Street School, I became quickly overwhelmed. Wow, do I have a ways to go in terms of getting myself, my students and parents interacting online. The students at Russel Street are blogging, the teachers are interacting with the website, and the community seems to rally around technology as their main source of communication. While perusing the students' blog entries, I specifically noticed how the teachers gave feedback. It struck me as extremely cool that these kiddos were receiving instant feedback which was positive, easy to access, and right there for the world to see. I mean, who doesn't like positive feedback? And there it is, shining like a light for the world to see on the school website. 

I think that in a way, embracing technology to such a degree holds everyone involved accountable. I realize there may be some consequences to embracing technology exclusively...but I have a feeling I would be spending more time trying to come up with the cons than the pros. I see students collaborating instantly through photos and videos. I better understand the projects that classrooms are embracing because I can see them right there on my computer screen. While scrolling through the plethora of digital material on the school website, I couldn't help but feel like this school was ahead of our time. I'm not sure that every community is ready for such a switch. But, I did become more inspired to ramp up my online presence for my classroom.

Spencer thoughts about Russell Street School

I have been looking through the website for the Russell Street School.  I am impressed with how much the staff posts about activities at the school.  They really want to communicate with parents and the outside world to share what they are doing.  I worry about having so many pictures and videos on the site; my school has a consent form that guardians have to sign off to allow or prohibit students from appearing on websites, television, newspaper articles, and even school bulletin boards.

I liked some of the student blogs. Some students seemed to be keeping a photo-journal of their experiences during the year.  I want to see those students write more than 1-2 sentences with each photo post to practice with their writing as well.  Other students are getting into the writing more and elaborating on the details of their experiences and feelings.

Impressions of the Russell Street School

If you haven't taken the opportunity already, visit the website for the Russell Street School (also look at their Google Site page) in Palmerson North, New Zealand. Spend some time looking at the blogging activities of the students. Go to the sites, scroll down and click on some of the Student Blogs and see what the students have been up to.

In looking through how this school - from teachers to students - use blogging as a part of their educational experience, what are your impressions of what you have seen?

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