Brian Crosby is an upper elementary teacher who has proved himself as a phenomenal educator. He shares his stories and ideas in his blog, Learning Is Messy. He has won many awards for his teaching tactics such as the 2008 SIGTel Online Learning Award. Brian Crosby has been able to reach “at-risk” students through the use of technology. In one of his posts, Leaving Their Mark, he wrote about the innovations in his classroom that really helped bring the students together. He was teaching in a 1:1 laptop school, so that definitely worked in his advance. He had his students create their own blogs. This is a great idea, and it really helped the students make stronger connections with each other since they could share their experiences online. He introduced Skype into his classroom that year as well. There was a student in the class that could not attend school because of her Leukemia. The class was still able to communicate with her via Skype. They broadened their horizons again when they made an informational video on how Skype had benefited their classroom. The students were also able to use Skype when the class was interviewed by another classroom about their experience with technology.
Brian Crosby’s website is another great place to visit to see work displayed by his students. His blog has a link to his Collaborative Class Blog. This page is another blog to look at to get ideas for my own classroom because there are different project ideas too.
The Learning Is Messy blog is a great resource to use as a teacher to get ideas and gain inspiration. The blog is full of helpful resources such as videos and links.
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