Reflections, Thoughts, and Holiday Wishes

I love working at this school with these children. I think J. H. House is one of the best kept secrets in the educational community. The faculty and staff are always hard at work shaping an exemplary curriculum approach in an ever-changing information age. J.H. House is known for its well-behaved, appreciative students who are developing each year as global thinkers for tomorrow. I am glad I can continue to contribute in a small way to this wonderful school.

The students have continued to shape their school blogs. They are learning how to navigate, join each other's blog, and post outside of class. I see improvement in their writing skills. Writing is becoming clearer, more focused and they are definitely inproving their vocabulary. Their responses to those whom have written them is much better. They are learning how to respond in a way that invites further thought and discussion.

Getting responses to their writing is the best part, according to the students. This last session they had time to respond to everyone who had written them. Then they joined each other's web logs and responded to each other. They were very thoughtful in their responses to their peers and we had a really good discussion on how each of the web sites were alike and different.

We still have some technology "ups & downs" that we are working through. Flexibility and patience are two traits they are really developing. You would be proud of your children. I am!

I want to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and if you have a little spare time click on the buttons to the left and take a look at the excellent work the students are doing. Please feel free to post your thoughts and reflections on this whole project. We would welcome it! Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc. would be appreciated. I will be bringing directions and information about the leadership event at Georgia State in January at the first session after the holiday.

Again, "Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year ! "

Comments

[Lain]

I am Lain. I have been asked to look at this site. I don't get this. What is the point? what do you do. It is not clear to me.

~Lain~

[Anne Davis]

Lain,

Thank you for looking at the NewsQuest site. May I ask you who asked you to look at this site?

Over on the side of this weblog is a link that is entitled How This Site Works and it gives the following explanation: This site is a weblog. Weblogs have frequent entries called posts. The editor (person who writes the main entries) can either cover a broad range of topics or have a narrow focus on a specific topic. A weblog usually takes the form of a long, cascading page with the newest information added to the top of the page. A calendar is often included at the top of the site so you can refer back to previous posts. It is kind of like reading backwards through a book.

SchoolBlogs are weblogs for education. A lot of educators around the world are creating sites to provide new ways of teaching and learning in our classrooms. See this link for a comprehensive explanation of Schoolblogs.

The best way to learn how to use this site is to explore. Content is created in the form of news stories, discussion, or story links. Remember, you can always return to the beginning page by clicking on the home button

The purpose of this schoolblog is to use current events as a springboard to teach critical thinking skills, writing, media awareness and to make connections with the school's curriculum objectives. We will be exploring the possibilities of using weblogs as a vehicle to provide a web site that is interactive, can be frequently updated, and is collaborative for elementary students.

We want to see what works, what doesn't, and how we can use weblogs effectively to prepare our students for the future as thinkers.

Also, the About Link gives further explanation. I meet with the students once a week and they have progressed from this weblog to their individual weblogs. Hope this helps your understanding of our site. We are basically exploring the use of weblogs for elementary schools.