180 Days

I chose the month of April which has the topic as 180 days as one of the best blogs. I read the blog and watched the powerpoint on this topic. This blog talks about how many days students go to school during the school year and about how many days are actually used for instruction. This was interesting to me because I never thought of how many days are taken away when you take away days for test, weather, graduation, and emergency drills. While some may not take the full day away, it does take the concentration of the students away from the actual instruction. I've never been one to agree with year around school but with so much on students plates now it should be a consideration for all schools.
I personally do not think school districts will ever find a way to accommodate the state's policies and the students' best interest. The author pointed out that his school used only 120 of the 180 for actual instruction days. You have to wonder if the school districts did add days to the year would they be used for curriculum or would they be used for makeup days taken away by tests, weather and graduation. I currently have a child in school and it amazes me how much time he spends on reviewing for standardized test, and he is only in the fifth grade. I dread when he enters middle and high school. Someone please pass the Tylenol.

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Technological illiterate teachers

I personally think as older teachers begin to retire, schools will be filling up with younger generation teachers. Younger generation usually means they are more familiar with today's technologies. I went to school mostly in the 80's, so I can relate with how much teachers should know in today's times. I am still learning a lot as far as computers, but I am not afraid to ask for help. I also know that most of the time I will have to work on the task that I am having trouble with. I was introduced to a computer in my last years of high school and it doesn't even compare with what students in a Pre-K class are doing now.
I think the Fisch post was more of a rant of being tired of helping teachers who were having technological difficulties and not on the fact that most teachers do their best at learning new stuff especially if it will benefit the students. I think the post was a little extreme. I believe with computers being such an important part of our lives today that students aren't going to miss out on learning because of teachers. Most students actually know more than most teachers when it comes to computers.

Internation school blogs

One of the international schools I found that uses blogs is that of Hangleton Junior School in Hove, Sussex, England. The students use blogs to learn more about the things that interest them. The teacher John Mills set up and afterschool club about weblogging. The children do "extra" homework, for example expanding their weblogs. Mr. Mills has noticed the children who use weblogs in school are reaching above the target level for their age. Here is the linkwhere I found the information on this school. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3804773.stm

The other school I found is located in Nova Scotia Canada. The teacher is Kathy Cassidy who teaches Grade One there at Westmount School. The students use the blog everyday and they also connect with other children in other countries. The teacher uses the blog to post everything the students do. The parents also have access to the blogs so that they can read what their child wrote about. This classroom blog was very organized and fun to look at. Check it out at:http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337

Blogs used in schools

As my fisrt example I will talk about a teacher from Kempton Elementary in Maryland who used a classroom blog for her students to tell about a field trip they took to a Native American farm. She decided to allow the students to "blog" their thoughts instead of having a classroom discussion about the adventure. The blogging tool is great for students who necessarily don't like to talk much in front of the class. The students can also use the blogs as a way to interact with one another, display their projects or post what they observed from their science experiments. The following link is where I found this particular teacher. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/19/technology/circuits/19blog.html

My second example is that of Forest Park Elementary in Portland, OR. This particular school uses a blog for each grade and even the principal uses a blog to post important announcements. This school uses blogs for individual classes, such as Mrs. Morris' 4th grade. The students in her class with her help created Hut 10 blog. The class posted a blog which was titled " The Best Part of Me" in which the students told about what feature of their's they liked the best. The students also posted a picture of their favorite feature. The following is a link to Forest Park Elementary.http://forestpark.pps.k12.or.us/ This is a picture of Forest Park Elementary.