Blogs in the Classroom

Since I will most likely be teaching in lower elementary, having the students blog themselves might not be the best idea. However, in my classroom that I am teacher assisting in, my CT does something similar to a blog that I might use in my classroom. My CT has a Facebook page, however you could also use a blog as well, but in this case, Facebook is the easiest. After each day, she posts pictures of the kids, and the activities and work that we have done during that day. It is something that is nice for parents especially because they can see what their kids were doing during the school day. It is a private account, where only my CT can add or accept the parent's friend requests. I think that its a good way for parents to communicate with one another as well as enable them to see the pictures of their kids during the school day. Other than doing just picture posts, blogs can also be replaced for emails. This could be a place where parents and teachers can communicate effectively, and post weekly assignments and information about the upcoming week, versus printing it out and having the students lose it.

If I ever decided to teach in an upper elementary classroom, blogs are also a great way for kids to publish their work, almost as a portfolio. Students could then comment on their work, and can work together to make improvements. Just like we are doing in this class, we are able to comment on our classmates work, as well as build a portfolio that could help them as they move along in their education. The kids could also look at blogs beyond their classmates, almost like looking up an article online, it can be used as a safer alternative where they could look up what interests them. Blogs can also be a good way to explain to them and talk to them about plagiarism. It is a good tool to teach them about using their own work, and to not copy the work of others.

However, there are some constraints and problems with using blogs as well. Some students and parents not might be that familiar with using a blog, and could cause some confusion if asked to post something outside of the classroom. Sometimes too you could have families that cannot afford to use a computer or might not have any access to a computer at home, which would enable the child not to participate. Especially with students that are older, you could run into issues as plagiarism, if the students didn't have any time to make their own posts. Although there are some ups and downs to using a blog, I could see myself using it as a future teacher, and educating my students and parents about the importance of using a blog.

Character Analysis

The character I chose to analyze is DJ Tanner from the television show Full House. During the show, she attended Fraiser Street Elementary, and as the show went on, she attended Van Atta Junior High school, and then later Bayview high school. During her times at school, she was always a good student. She would always do her homework, and do her best to get the best possible grades that she could get. She had a close group of friends that lived around her, and also hung around at school. During her years during the show, she was very close wither family, as were her friends. They lived in San Diego in a 3 story house.


During school, DJ would do her best to get all her work done, as well as keep her friends on the right track as well. She was a very bright girl, and during the show she was always taught a lesson by her father one way or another. She handles tough situations with ease, and generally got mad at her father a lot of the time, but was very forgiving towards him at the end, because she then realized the lessons he was trying to teach her. She is quick to apologize, and was a good friend to everyone that came in her path.


If DJ was a student in my class, personally she would be a friend that I could go to for advice, as well as a tutor. She was very bright, and eventually after high school got accepted to U.C. Berkley. She was a great role model to everyone around her, and was a personal role model to myself as I watched this show. I watched Full House when I was in middle school and high school, and I loved how relatable the show was. There were real life situations always ending up in a lesson which is what I loved. The way DJ was able to handle those situations, made it relatable and someone I wanted myself to be.


As far as technology goes, I know that sometimes DJ had to study a lot, and helped a lot of her friends study. There are many tools now a days that gives you online flashcards, as well as games on my favorite website Quizlet that would have been very useful to her during this time.


DJ's Wikipedia website!
This is also another website, that tells you a lot about DJ Tanner from Full House!

This is a video of Dj at school. In this scene from episode 2 of Season 3, Back to School Blues, DJ Tanner is in junior high, and she learns the hard way that girls can be so mean to each other sometimes when she is teased in the lunchroom by Colleen and her gang, a clique of mean girls. (I felt bad for her when I saw this scene for the first time.)

About Me

My name is Faith Bart, and my planned certification once I graduate from Grand Valley is an elementary certificate with a group social studies major and a history emphasis. All my life I have been a swimmer, and that is something that I love. I take pride in the fact that I was on the Grand Valley's Varsity swim team for 4 years, and was named captain my senior year in 2015-2016. I love to be outside, and I have been a lifeguard for 7 years, and a swim coach for the same amount of time.

I haven't had much experience using technology and planning in a classroom setting, but I am very familiar with technology as a whole. My mother is a parapro at East Kentwood middle school, and I have a lot of teachers in my family, so I am familiar with some programs that are used on ipads, and computers as well. The only other experience I have with technology and students are just mainly from my observations that I have done over my years of watching students use them.

In this video includes a video of my swim team at Grand Valley. This team has shaped the person I am today, as well as given me the abilities to work in a team setting. This is just a short video of what our team does on our training trip every year in Orlando, Florida during winter break! It is along video, but if anyone has some time you can watch how our team truly bonds together! Enjoy!

This was a picture that was taken of me a few days ago in my placement. I love this because this was my first time where my CT let me take over a day of teaching the alphabet.