Blog Reflection

This last year I taught kindergarten for the first time in six years.  I regularly visited a number of blogs to collect ideas on updated strategies and activities to use in the classroom.  The blogs I visited were colorful and included cute graphics, fun fonts, links to additional resources, and an abundance of research based information on running an effective kindergarten classroom.

At the beginning of this course, as I set up my blog, I tried to recreate some of the positive characteristics I enjoyed in the sites I visited.  I found a limit to the backgrounds available on the blogster website I used.  I selected a background that was appealing to the eye, but it wasn’t the cute and fun background I was hoping for.  I was able to use a fun font throughout the blog.  A little variety with font would have been fun, but again, the choices were somewhat limited.  The blog I created was satisfactory for this purpose, but it wasn’t the cute, engaging blog I was hoping for.  I found myself wondering how the kindergarten blogs I visited were created.  Did they use a different program or website to begin with?  Where did they get their backgrounds, graphics and fonts?  Did a separate company create the blog for them and they just maintained it?   I find myself looking at these blogs with new eyes.  Not only am I collecting creative information about teaching, but I’m also looking at how the page is put together so that I may someday create a fun blog as well. 

This last year we sent a homework menu home each week.  The menu included a reading log and various assignments to be completed during the week.  After creating and maintaining a blog for this course, I think posting the homework menu on a blog would be a terrific option.  Parents would have the option to visit the blog and view the homework menu.  If they have questions, they can post them (perhaps there are other parents with the same question) and I can respond.  In instances where a worksheet was used, that could also be posted.  Posting homework menus on a blog would save copy paper and time.  The only issue would be for parents who do not have access to the internet. 

I enjoyed visiting the blogs posted for this course.  They were all so different.  However, I missed following discussions on the forum as we have done in other courses.  I felt as though we were all posting on our blogs and occasionally visiting and replying to a blog, but I missed the community feeling and group learning that comes from the forum discussions.  I sometimes felt a little bit disconnected.  So, although a blog might be a good idea for a weekly homework menu, I’m not convinced it is a great format for a class like this. 

I will continue to visit blogs to continually update my teaching strategies and activities in the classroom.  Blogs are a valuable resource to teachers across the country.  As I visit, I will continue to collect ideas on how to create a classroom blog that is pleasant and easy to understand.  I think it would be a terrific resource to parents.