Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The Value of Analyzing Teaching Blogs

While exploring educational blog posts, I found one that was very intriguing. In Ms. Cassidy's Classroom Blog, Ms. Cassidy updates her feed by keeping readers up to date on what is going on in her classroom. This was done in a very organized and fun layout by intriguing the readers eye with multiple pictures and minimal words. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing pictures of the activities taking place! Because of Ms. Cassidy's blog layout, I was better equipped to understand what her students were learning.

This approach to a blog not only helps keep parents informed on their child's academic life, but expands teacher resources by allowing other teachers to borrow ideas and lesson plans for their own classrooms. I particularly like the 'dot activity' Ms. Cassidy posted about on her blog. I have previously read The Dot by Peter Reynolds while babysitting and loved it. What a great way to incorporate multiple learning activities of art, color, reading, and writing into one fun exercise that the class can do together!

Another thing I found fascinating about Ms. Cassidy's Blog, was the multiple pages dedicated to each student. In these student pages, one finds the progress of assignments and quotes from the individual student. However, I am curious of the student's understanding of their page. Did they sit with Ms. Cassidy as she created their page, asking for their input? Do the students have access to it or know that it exists? I would be very interested to talk to Ms. Cassidy and discuss her pattern of blogging with her students. However, overall, I was highly impressed with this blog, and would love to practice this in my own classroom one day!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

About me!

Hello! My name is Anna Brinson. I am a student at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, in my Junior year, studying to be a Special Education Teacher. I desire to be a Special Education teacher because I believe that every student should be given the ability to excel in school. My wish is to be that encourager to those that have disabilities, while at the same time individually pushing students past comfort zones to better prepare them for life. 

I am not a tech savvy person, so I am very excited to take this course to further my knowledge on technology. My hope for this class is to be able to continue the practices I learn this semester on into my professional career as a teacher. I believe this information on technology to be very helpful in my career, and I cannot wait to apply it!