Blog Review #5: The Education of an Elementary Principal

http://timslack.blogspot.ca/

My final edublog review is about an elementary principal in Ottawa.  Tim Slack's thoughts and experiences provide a different insight to the challenges of integrating technology from a school wide perspective. His blog demonstrates how technology in education can expand beyond some classroom lesson plans.  He does a great job communicating with parents, fostering school involvement and showing leadership.

Tim Slack connects with parents through a school website, a Twitter account and other media such as screenr where he created a video with school information for parents.  He created a "flipped parent announcement", adapting and explaining the flipped classroom concept through the video.  Parents can see that this school is actively involved in creating an environment for the 21st century learner, while helping parents understand some of the new technology.

I also liked his efforts to implement school wide activities using technology.  He created an online survey where students could vote for a name for his fish in the office.  He was pleasantly surprised how the whole school became engaged in the activity.  One of the learning implications he noted was that students and teachers were exposed to google forms and were able to try something new.  Another activity I liked was a school wide pumpkin challenge where each class created a "wordle" using words to describe their carved pumpkin.  He includes the related expectations for teachers and is able to differentiate the activity for each grade in his school, JK - 6.  The wordles were all shown at a school assembly and he provided a prize for the winning class.  What an awesome way to introduce both students and staff to educational applications of technology!

In my opinion, he demonstrates leadership through risk taking.  He is willing to try new things, adapt and learn from mistakes and reach out to others, through his blog, for feedback on trying new ideas, such as a flipped staff meeting.  Some of his posts discuss issues such as "The role of homework in an elementary school", and "Reflecting on school use of technology".  He acknowledges the need for change and that there will be a great learning curve getting everyone involved.  Take some time to read through this interesting blog!

Blog # 4: Mr. Salsich's Class

http://jmsalsich.edublogs.org/

Although it is not Canadian, Mr. Salsich's Class in Connecticut is one of the best blogs I have come across.  Mr. Salsich models how to truly integrate technology into his lessons.  There is so much information on the blog, it does takes some time to look around, however. His grade 3 students are involved in global projects such as "Our World, Our Numbers", Readers Theatre, using audio and video to highlight reading fluently and using apps to learn how to write informational paragraphs.  Clearly the students enjoy it and are very engaged in their learning!

I was wondering what makes a good blog and searched for "best edublogs".  Mr. Salsich's Class was nominated for Best Class Blog 2012 from Edublog Awards.  His blog did not win but I liked it and found it very useful as a new blogger.  There is a wealth of information and resources that really shows how a good blog can be set up and organized.  His work demonstrates the potential and global reach of a good blog. The global project, participating in lessons with classes around the world, looks fantastic, clearly a lot of work, but rewarding for the students and teachers.  Parents must also be impressed with the type of learning happening at school, as well as links such as blogging guidelines and parent resources.

He creates great videos and visuals with his students to teach concepts.  I like his blog entry on January 28 using apps such as Skitch to teach informational paragraphs, and would like to adapt the idea for grade 1. The use of visuals that are labeled with information in this way is ideal for helping primary students learn.  He also creates a video with his students to learn how to answer comprehension questions.  The students dramatize and narrate the video, called "Red Roosters Don't Drink Root Beer" (see Jan. 27 blog entry).  He creates a funny sentence to help students memorize the important information.  It is a fun way for students to remember the elements of a good answer:  Read the question..., Repeat back part of the question..., Detail..., Detail..., Reread your answer...  It is very clearly explained and turned into a great way to learn the concept.  The participation in creating these types of activities is key to using technology to engage in learning that is meaningful for the 21st century learner.  A lot of time and commitment goes into this blog, it might take time for my blog to develop this amount of detail!