Today was the first Technology Tidbit for the parents of elementary students. This year our elementary division has chosen to focus on integrating technology into the classroom. One of the ways that each class has begun is to integrate technology is by creating a class blog. The session today was to share with parents what the class blogs look like, why we are doing them and some of the expectations. I shared Technology Tidbit blogs. This is by no means an exhaustive document but hopefully it is a start.

I had planned on holding two sessions, one on Tuesday morning for parents as they dropped off their child and the same session on Wednesday afternoon when parents were coming to pick up their child. The sessions were to be 30 minutes. On Monday night we had snow and our school was cancelled for Tuesday. So today was the first session. Sixteen parents attended. I plan on having one monthly session to introduce a variety of topics and helps for parents. Wednesday seemed to work well for the parents and I think I will just plan on one session in the future.

Some things I learned are:

• Parents want guidelines on how often to assess the blog. I need to let the classroom teachers know that they should be explicit in their newsletter what is expected.
• At least one parent learned what an avatar is.
• Short is good. Parents seemed to appreciated the information and hopefully left feeling a bit more empowered to help their child navigate this new tool for learning.
• My computer acts differently connected to a different projector! Need to have someone with a few more tech skills help me make sure I have the best screen display.