Blog Bling Reflection

I can see using a classroom blog as an additional form of communication with students and parents. It would be another resource for finding class happenings, information on upcoming fieldtrips, and a choir concert/rehearsal calendar. I could even share audio or video clips from our concerts and of other choirs performing. A blog's possibilities are endless when it comes to being an effective forum for collaboration and discussion, and this project made me think of a few specific ways I could use it for that purpose.

First, I could have a reflection forum where students discuss what they hear from the audio/video clips. I'd have them listen specifically for what elements of performance the choir needs to improve upon and give suggestions for improvement. Secondly, I allow each grade to give input and pick out one piece for the spring choir concert. This process has traditionally involved a big in-class discussion, but I think a blog would be an interesting alternative or supplement to this activity. Students could openly share their ideas and we could even take the vote online once we've narrowed down their choices. In the past, a pitfall of doing this activity has been that the majority of suggested songs are not arranged for a choir to sing, eliminating them right away. However, I could link the website I order music from to the blog and show students how to search for their selections. Students would be required to actively search out a piece's availability before they suggest it. The music website often has audio clips of the choir arrangements, so the students could listen first to determine if it's a quality arrangement or not. Not only would this save me a lot of time, it would give my students a more active role in the process of picking out music.

Right now Google Blogger would be the best option for me to implement a blog in my classroom simply because I have some experience with it. Nonetheless, I must admit I was intrigued by the many other blog options out there. As far as I could tell, they all seemed pretty user-friendly. My favorite looking blogs came from Weebly. I like the idea of having a built in photo editor...seems like a nice feature! The 'drag and drop' technique for blog layout appears to be easier and offer more flexibility than I experienced in Blogger. I also like the Facebook look of Edumodo and think the kids would connect with it. The 'alerts' feature is especially appealing because I currently send text message reminders to my choirs that meet outside the school day through a website (Remind101). It has been an awesome way to communicate about upcoming music rehearsals, but it'd be more efficient to have the alerts sent from my blog. I also think the gradebook feature on Edumodo looks neat and offers a further centralized system.