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.
I too thought about the extra time involved in the documentation of the learning experiences. It can seem overwhelming at first, but I am sure that there is a moment where the benefits outweigh the extra time, and may even make up for it in terms of ease of access for later reflection and reference to documentation. Teachers and students alike can spend quite a bit of time dealing with organization and finding work that was misplaced. I am curious if they are able to "buy-back" time from other activities because there is time invested into the blogs.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. If there is one thing that I gained through this is course, is the time it takes to comment and post. I've had difficulty in having ideas of what to post. I couldn't imagine, although in a school setting it's pretty easy, to post as much as the teachers and students did for the school.
DeleteThis was a good eye opener in that it takes great amount of effort to have a high quality blog, which I know now and will use it this coming school year.
It certainly was colorful to show many different personalities of involvement. I thought it was interesting how they used the blog to both communicate upcoming events and to document progress of completed activities.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think we all get lost in the open communication of emails. This was a great way to keep the public informed of events.
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