My name is Ana Brightful. I'm an ENL (ESOL) teacher in the Rochester City School District. I work with students in grades 3, 4 and 6 in both the dual language and general education settings.
I am taking part in this program in an effort to increase the use of technology in my classroom. I feel behind in this area a lot of the time. This is my 16th year teaching and being behind with technology makes me feel plain old. :) I know technology is a great way to increase student engagement and I am eager to offer more for my students in this area.
I learned several things during this lesson. For one, I learned that there is a difference between teacher/professional blogs where the teacher posts what the students are doing in the classroom and class blogs where students have an opportunity to write their own blog posts. Second, I learned that it is advisable to have students experience "blogging" via paper/pencil first before creating a blog. Finally, I learned that there are many resources and examples to use as a guide when creating a class blog. I know I'll have support.
