Blog Journal #7

     When looking at different school websites I came across Jackson Elementary School’s website which contains a list of links to multiple teacher pages and information about each of their classes. The school’s website has a Google login screen as well as a Teacher Portal that most likely gives access to more private information about students and teachers One that I came across was Mrs. Andrew’s teacher page for her 4th grade class. Some of the information that is shared publicly on this class website is the school bell schedule, classroom supply list, and a link to an external website called Jupiter Ed which is most likely used by the teachers to show grades online so parents can access them. Mrs. Andrew’s website also goes into more detail on information in regards to her class specifically. She goes over the curriculum and what each subject learning entails for her 4th grade class. She also goes over her expectations for her students in regards to what to bring to class each day, projects, and keeping up with homework assignments. Lastly, she has her grading and late work policy posted for her students to refer to.

     Through my experience and learning with this class, I believe I progress with each of my blog posts. In the beginning I was quite unfamiliar with blogging and how I should present information in each post. I believe this is because I am used to a more formal way of writing because I have been writing essays and research papers for many years now. I enjoy blogging because it is less formal and more focused on my opinion and point of view on the different things we are learning. I also believe it is enjoyable for me because I have a passion about education which is what this class and my blog revolves around. One thing I do not like about blogging is sometimes I don’t know how to start or how to finish a blog post, because there is nothing definitive that you have to do for a blog like you do for a discussion post or a research paper. During this blogging process, I have learned how to freely write and not follow a basic structure to everything, but still make it all coherent and easy to read.

     Through the Web Evaluation assignment we completed last week, I was able to acquire some new skills when it comes to searching the Internet for reliable sources. For example, I was able to see all the different ways in which a website can be looked at and evaluated. Through my past years of using websites as a resource for different things for academics, I was able to learn how to successfully find a useful and credible source through experience. I feel that a Web evaluation checklist is a helpful tool for those new to learning how to evaluate web sources. I like the idea of this assignment because I believe it is an important skill that students should have to make sure the information they gather can be used and is credible. Although, with web evaluations there can be many different aspects to look at depending on what type of information is being gathered. If I were to do this assignment again, I would probably pick a different topic/project to base the web evaluation off of, because mine was a little difficult to do.

Check out my comments on Minnie's and Kinsley's Blog Post #6!