Comment On The Visual

CREATING POSITIVE DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS. Students, you need to start establishing a positive digital impression of yourselves. Without question, it will be the norm for you to be Googled when you begin to look for jobs, even if it’s part time. As young as you are, you need to cultivate your personal brand, and you can do this by posting about what you’re involved in at school, learning in you classrooms, or other co-curricular activities they enjoy. Understand that you can control the message about yourselves on the Web, and that you can point prospective employers, colleagues or university admissions officers in your direction !

Comment On The Visual

TRANSPARENCY FOR PARENTS AND FAMILY. Student work is no longer just for the teacher ! Now you are writing for a potentially much larger audience that includes your immediate and extended family. GSAD curriculum is becoming more transparent to parents. As you write more about what you’re learning, you now have a means for your parents to feel more connected to what happens at school. As a 21 st Century Student you will not only have a digital archive of your learning, but will see comments from friends and family that they can revisit in years to come. Their access won’t be limited to the box of cherished school records and mementos relegated to the old cupboards. For a 21 st Century Student, an Internet connection will enable you to revisit your childhood and adolescent school years as long as Internet exists.

Comment On The Visual

Open Reflection How much time do you have to just sit down and take time to reflect on what you have learned? How many times do you go to an assembly, lab, or class and it is teacher after teacher after teacher, with no time to sit down and reflect on what you have learned? Instead of simply dumping information into your brains, you have to take time to think about what you are learning and make meaningful connections. Bloggers say that Blogging has been hugely beneficial because they have seen the benefit of sitting down, writing, and reflecting on what they have learned while also learning to create an emotional connection to the information. Through being totally open, they have had the opportunity to learn from the comments and advice of others as well, which has helped them refine their own ideas. By allowing yourself to openly reflect through blogging, you do not only see what you learn, but you learn from each other as well.

Increased motivation for writing All of you will write and complete aspects of the posted topic in writing. Many will add to it in their own time, comment on other blogs and reply to comments posted on their own blog.

Increased motivation for reading You will spend time browsing through fellow student posts as well as students from around the world. Many of you will link your friends onto your blogroll for quick access.

Student Voice Students having a space to share their voice is extremely important. Blogging should not only be “school related” but “learning related”. In your blog, I (the teacher) may learn a lot about not only what you have learned in school, but what you are passionate about, and hopefully how we teachers could serve you better as educators. In a world where everyone can have a voice, isn’t it essential that teachers allow students to use this powerful medium to share their VOICES in a meaningful way ?

It’s FUN!….. It will provide you with the opportunity to engage in learning using a different strategy! Enjoy !