Show and Tell

One of the running themes throughout this book has been using technology to allow parents and the community to see what students are doing in schools as well. What I learned from this chapter is that students are never too old to do “show and tell,” and it’s not only important for students to show off their work and success to their classmates, but also their parents and community. I also learned that the best way to do this is to have websites and blogs that parents can access, and there are many resources that you can use to do this. This chapter mentioned Wikispaces, Googlesites, Facebook, or “digital open houses.” I personally found Googlesites difficult to use when I used it, so I would most likely use Wikispaces in my classroom. I feel that Wikispaces is great because of the way that you can create different templates for different assignments and artifacts, and I think that it will be easier for my students to use. This chapter talked about using Facebook, and although Fryer discussed how you could control the restrictions on Facebook, I just think that it could all be avoided by using another website that will work just as well. I also liked the idea of having a digital open house. My school did a similar thing with art every winter at our middle school. I think those kinds of open houses are great, because not only do students get a chance to show off what they’re doing, but it gives the parents and community members a chance to see what’s going on. Not that parents and community members wouldn’t have access to the sites that my students create, but I will be there to facilitate any questions and concerns, and it’ll be a more sociable way of getting to show off what my students have been doing.