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.
I wondered the same thing about permission forms. I found some personal information and naturally pictures of students and wondered how they were able to do that. Normally if I post pictures in this scale I have to blur out their faces. I'm not an expert on New Zealand laws, but I imagine that they would need something in place ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree. We have a spreadsheet with permissions checked for every student. But even then, I am not sure parents are reading what they are signing. I would be very hesitant to post a picture of a student, even with the permission box checked. At a minimum I would want to speak directly to the parents, but I would most likely blur the face or take photos from the back.
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