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!

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.