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.