Paper Blogging

I've been very frustrated lately that I do not have enough computers or iPads for my first graders to begin blogging on. My school reading consultant suggested a way for my students to get the benefits of blogging without having the technology.  She suggested a class message board where the students could post messages using paper and push pins.  How old school, but better then nothing I guess!  Then when the technology in my school is in working order the kids will have some background on just what blogging actually is.  It's still frustrating that by having to blog on paper  my students won't be meeting any of the NETS for students. I did find this video on YouTube showing a class using what they called Paper Blogging.

Technology Standards, Who Knew?

I hate to admit this but until last week I didn't know there were common core standards for technology. It totally makes sense though, with the end of the CMTs and the new SBAC testing being done all on computers. To be successful students will have to be much more computer literate than just playing Call of Duty. The technology standards are called the National Educational Technology Standards or NETS. The NETS for students comprise everything today's students need to know to be successful in in the global computer based society that now exists. If you would like to know more specifics about these standards visit the NETS website at http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students. There are also NETS for teachers. These are the standards that educators will use to evaluate their students' performance working with technology. If you would like to know more about how students will be evaluated visit http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.