My name is Amy Smith. Mrs. Smith to most of you who will eventually be viewing this blog. I have created this blog as a way to 1) connect with students and 2) connect with other professionals, and finally 3) reflect on my successes and failures as a teacher of high school English. I have taught in the Bellevue Public Schools for the last 17 years. I began at Mission, teaching 8th grade English and moved to West in 2000. In the time I have been at West, I have taught 9th, 10th, and 12th grade--all levels. One oddity about me is that I have two B.S. degrees--one in Biblical Studies from Nebraska Christian College (when it was still in my hometown of Norfolk, Nebraska) and one in Secondary Education from Wayne State College. I also have a Masters degree in English from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
I am a casual user of technology. I'm not a techie, I'm not a paper and pencil fanatic. Instead, I am happy to use technology when it is expedient or when it augments student learning. I am not in favor of using it just to be flashy, or when other methods are just as quick and effective. In other words, I am a pragmatic user of technology. In terms of operating systems or preferences, I wouldn't say I'm a Mac or PC. I like to be able to use both and see merits in both systems. Apple holds a bit of a monopoly on products that I often use right now though, so being able to use all the items together is helpful. I have an HP at home though and I have an Android phone, so I am firmly planted in both worlds.
I'm looking forward to my foray into the world of blogging and am anxious to learn more. I've had students blog in the past, so I suppose it's time to finally catch up with both my colleagues and students.
Until next week,
Mrs. Smith
I am a 4th grade teacher at Two Springs and have been teaching for six years. I read that you would like to connect with your students through your blog and I was wondering if you have an idea as to how you plan to do that. I plan to use my blog as a way to communicate with my students and parents. I would like to communicate about the learning taking place in the classroom by providing links to youtube videos and websites that correlate with what we are learning in class. I am very excited to eventually share this blog with my students!
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DeleteThanks for your comment! I currently use a Facebook page to post assignments for all levels I teach, and to facilitate summer homework for my AP students. If I like this process (and format/ease of use/etc.) I will use this for my AP kids this summer. They have to respond to questions I pose about their summer reading and also post questions for both me and the other students to answer about the text as they are reading along. Facebook is an easy way to catch all my kids where they already are, but there are so many pitfalls. I'm hoping to have a running dialogue with kids here as an extension to what we're already doing in the classroom. We'll see how it goes...
I like what you said about being pragmatic in terms of technology use. I have that same philosophy. If it will enhance learning than I will use technology, there is no need to use it just be be, as you say, flashy. Through this class I hope to see how a blog will help me and my students connect.
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