Sunday, July 31, 2011
Why am I doing this?
The purpose of this blog is to communicate with parents, staff, students and community members about the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) at Laurel Mountain. SEM has so many components that affect our students in the classroom everyday. It is hard to let everyone know what is going on. Hopefully, this blog can serve that purpose. It can be a place where people can be updated on the newest WeDo lessons going on in the classrooms, what the students are learning on the Renzulli Learning System, what the newest service learning project has done or what product or service is being created in enrichment clusters. It can also be a place where questions about SEM are answered and thoughtful discussions and comments can happen. The possibilities are endless.
What I hope to learn...
I see blogs as an on-line, accessible journal/diary/log in which the author/creator can shares/her thoughts and ideas with a world-wide audience. People with similar interests can read, post comments, questions and interact with the creator and each other. It is on-line community or club for people with similar interests, passions or talents. It can be added to at any time of the day, it never stops or closes.
In an educational setting, I see it as a massive communication tool for parents and students. Blogs allow parents to see what is going on in their child's classroom and/or school on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Blogs allow the students to communicate with the teacher and each other. The teacher and students are writing, which means they are thinking. The students do not have to get up in front of the whole class and talk. The students can write their feelings, questions, opinions in a format that feels more comfortable.
And blogs create an on-line community for students that can be brought into the daily classroom community at school. Once one child starts interacting with the teacher on the blog, the whole class will follow. It is a way to hook students in on participating in school at home, on the weekends and even over the summer.
In an educational setting, I see it as a massive communication tool for parents and students. Blogs allow parents to see what is going on in their child's classroom and/or school on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Blogs allow the students to communicate with the teacher and each other. The teacher and students are writing, which means they are thinking. The students do not have to get up in front of the whole class and talk. The students can write their feelings, questions, opinions in a format that feels more comfortable.
And blogs create an on-line community for students that can be brought into the daily classroom community at school. Once one child starts interacting with the teacher on the blog, the whole class will follow. It is a way to hook students in on participating in school at home, on the weekends and even over the summer.
About me
Hello. My name is Nicole Levitan and I am the Enrichment Coordinator at Laurel Mountain Elementary in Austin, Texas. This is my fifteenth year as a professional educator. I am a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'Em!) with a bachelor's degree in Applied Learning and Development.
After graduating, I taught fourth and fifth grades in Plano ISD. In 2000, I moved back to Austin and began my career at Laurel Mountain. I taught fifth grade for two years and spent five years teaching second grade students. This begins my fifth year as the Enrichment Coordinator at LME. I have been married to my fantastic and supportive husband for the past ten years and we have a wonderful six year old son, who will be at first grader at LME this coming school year. We also have an adorable and barky miniature schnauzer named Lily.
After graduating, I taught fourth and fifth grades in Plano ISD. In 2000, I moved back to Austin and began my career at Laurel Mountain. I taught fifth grade for two years and spent five years teaching second grade students. This begins my fifth year as the Enrichment Coordinator at LME. I have been married to my fantastic and supportive husband for the past ten years and we have a wonderful six year old son, who will be at first grader at LME this coming school year. We also have an adorable and barky miniature schnauzer named Lily.
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