I found Andrew Sullivan’s article on blogging very interesting.  I have never been into blogging myself but I have followed a few in my day that have been of interest to me.  I love that he described a blog as “writing out loud”, I thought that it was a perfect description.  I think that getting students in elementary grades into blogging might help get them more interested in writing and provide them with a place where they can write about something that interests them as well as follow blogs of classmates.  When I was reading the article I thought that my son, who is a third grader and not at all into writing, might really go for this.  I might set him up with one and see how it goes, I’m sure he has a lot to say about legos and baseball.  

I have not used Padlet yet but I can see how it can be helpful in the classroom setting.  I work in early childhood special education but I think that I could use Padlet with parents to share ideas or thoughts.  When a class book is made and sent home for each family to read, Padlet could be used for each family to share their thought/excitement about the book for everyone to read and add to.  I love that everyone can add to Padlet as they go.       

I am also new to Padlet and am looking forward to learning how this tool can be used to take classroom discussions to a new level.

 

I have never used Padlet prior to this course. I think it’s a great way for kids to use technology and to discuss with one another in the classroom. I could see this really working in the classroom setting if you wanted to try an implement a discussion based aspect. I also like the layout of it because you can see everyone’s response at one time. 

I will most likely never use Padlet with my students, as I teach early childhood special education, although I believe that Padlet could be a useful technology among the early childhood staff.  Just one example where I think Padlet would be useful is sharing thoughts and insights about our new curriculum.  This year we are implementing a newly re-written curriculum.  As with anything new, many questions arose.  We started the process of dissecting the curriculum in our first professional development day, but there was not enough time to examine all areas of the curriculum.  Padlet could be a tool that we could use to share on-going thoughts and questions as we independently explore the curriculum.  Without using valuable professional development time, we would still be able to explore the curriculum together by using Padlet.

I have never heard of padlet before this assignment, but I could see myself using it in the future with my elementary classes. It could be beneficial to incorporate it while trying out the flipped classroom because I could assign some sort of link for a video or article the night before class and they could create their response on there. They are able to see each other’s responses right away that way the next day in class we could dive right into group discussions. They can come in with questions that they have for other students that would facilitate their academic conversations with each other.

Words, of all sorts, have never seemed so now. " (2008) It makes me think what did the author mean by this? Especially the last sentence.  "Words, of all sorts, have never seemed so now."  Did he mean that, with all the other media available, words are even more important than they ever were before?  Why is this?  When he ends with the word "now", does he mean NOW, as in timely? What do you think?
One other question. This article was written a little shy of 10 years ago. I wonder what Mr. Sullivan would say about blogging now?

I could see myself using Padlet in conjunction with 5th grade literature. After the students read a selection, they always have a written response as part of their assignment. I could see Padlet taking the place of some of these written assignments. One of the benefits would be the students being able to see what others are writing and respond accordingly. I will sometimes copy a good written response and share it with the 5th grade, so perhaps with Padlet, that may not be necessary. That is if I am understanding how Padlet works. And that is a big IF.

 

- I have never used padlet in my classroom. I think with some teaching around the use of it that it could be beneficial in my classroom. I like that you are able to see everyone’s response to the subject matter. I also think it would be very beneficial to use as a do now or exit slip in the classroom. 

I have never used Padlet, but I can see the benefit and look forward to trying Padlet in my 8th grade LA classroom. Students will be able to see their classmates responses as well. I can see using it as a writing warm-up followed by a class discussion.

I have never blogged before but do follow a few. Mostly I have found them from searching the internet for some kind of information.   Some are educational and some are just people that I can relate too. I did find Andrew Sullivan’s article Why I Blog to be very lengthy and hard to follow at times.  It did mention some good points though, a blog is like writing a diary that everyone will read.  It can be very raw and that can be so many people follow or relate to the author.  Sullivan also mentioned the immediate reaction that you get from posting a blog.  There is no editting, the blogger is writing what they are feeling at that time and once it is posted it can be shared with millions of people to have their own options. 

I have never used padlet in my classroom.  I am a Title I reading teacher  and do see how this could work in my room for book discussions.