522 Blogs and Counting. Ok, now I know that not all of these Weblogs are currently in use, but it's a new semester, I just made about 100 new student sites, a half a dozen new teacher sites, a few more Website sites, a couple new activity sites...days like these I'm feeling pretty good about the local blogosphere. And before you say it, it's not the numbers; it's the way they're being used, I know. But the numbers are nice. Blogs are seeping in. And if that's not enough, here are the kinds of conversations I'm starting to have more and more these days:
I meet with the Fine Arts supervisor, three art teachers, a design and tech teacher, the Web page teacher and the district public information person (who oversees content on the school Website.) We're ostensibly talking about how to carry on the virutal art show which has gotten rave reviews from all corners.
"We love the show," says one of the teachers, "but we want to be able to update it more often."
"You can," I say.
"I'd like to have a separate section for my sculpture class and one for my G & T section," another says.
"You can," I say.
"I just want a place where I can show students what my expectations are for their work," the design and tech teacher says.
"No problem," I say.
"Hey," says the department supervisor. "What if we linked our course descriptions in the program of study to the student work we put up for that class?"
I nod my head. People smile.
"Wouldn't it be great if every teacher could put up student work?" says a different art teacher.
They nod their heads. I smile.
"But how do we let people know all this stuff is there," someone asks?
"I have a plan..." I say. "Just wait."
What I'm hoping is that I can get the art department to pilot this whole idea and get a process in place that any teacher can replicate. I kept evangelizing about the power and potential of publishing student art, song, video, text, etc. I kept saying how it just depends on what a teacher is willing to imagine in terms of what he/she could do. It's a big step in the right direction. Tomorrow I meet with the Social Studies supervisor to discuss the blog articulation site. Thursday, it's wikis in media lit. Who knows what next week will bring... [Weblogg-ed News]
4:36:12 PM 
|
