Monday, March 31, 2008

Reader Survey

Dear Readers,

Please give me a hand. I have been publishing this blog for about eight months now. Yesterday was a great day - the blog passed 5,000 hits. It is pretty remarkable to me that this blog has been viewed 5,000 times this school year. I appreciate the interest. Now, please help me make it better.

I see it as having three roles including:

1. Informing parents about events, activities, and news from our Reading Workshop,

2. Providing a forum for discussion about our Reading Workshop, reading instruction, our class, and our school,

3. Making us think, me as a writer, and hopefully, you as a reader and writer.

With this in mind, I would like your help - how can I make this blog more useful for you?

Here are some areas you might like to comment on:

  • Topics - are there topics (specific or general) you’d like covered? What topics would you like to see more of? less of?
  • Types of Posts - recaps of daily events, class instructional goals and reports, student response posts, guest posts, upcoming events…. have your say about what you’d like most/least
  • Posting Frequency - too many posts, not enough, just right?
  • Blog Features - what would make your reader experience better?
  • And - what else do I need to know about the blog?

I would especially like to hear from parents and teachers. I appreciate the enthusiastic commenting from students, but my goal is for this blog to serve as a tool for communication with parents and teachers as well.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. McGuire,
I check your blog often. It helps me feel like I know what is happening in Alina's class.

I would like to see more:
1. of what the kids are doing in class
2. how parents can help
3. more extra credit
4. more consistent blogs

Thanks for blogging, keep up the good work :)

Kristy Smith
(Alina's mom)

Anonymous said...

I can't believe that this blog has been veiwed 5,000 times.

Anonymous said...

Mr. McGuire,
I, like Alina's mom check your blog site often. My girls say I am "spying". I like to call it being informed! I really think you do a great job managing your blog site. I applaud you for just taking the extra time and effort to do so. I'm sure your time is equally as valuable as our's and I appreciate you fitting us into your schedule! I would feel guilty asking for anything more!!!!
My daughters and I really enjoy riddles!!! The "Where's Mr. McGurie?" was great!!! And, the class pictures you add are always neat to see.
Thank You,
Kim

Anonymous said...

Oh, those "Evil Twins", Katie and Kari I wouldn't trade for the world. They are terrific!!!!

Anonymous said...

I was instructed by Katie and Kari that I needed to post a blog but I was told there were rules. I was not allowed to tell that Kari wets the bed and Katie sucks her thumb at night because that would be too embarrassing.

April Fool's!

Great Blog Site.
-Matt
(Katie & Kari's Step Dad)

Anonymous said...

Hey Mr.McGuire I hope you know that Matt said "April Fools" at the end of that comment.

Anonymous said...

OMG!!! He said "April Fools" I hope you know just in case you missed that part. I'm going to kick his butt.

Mr. McGuire said...

Mrs. Smith,

Thanks for the comments. Blogging consistently is definitely advise that I will try to follow. I also think doing more of #1 would make it easier for you to know the answer to #2.

Mr. McGuire said...

Hey Evil Twins,

1. This blog is for parents, too.

2. Don't worry about the comments, only the whole world will ever read them (including all of your classmates).

ROFLOL

Anonymous said...

Mr.McGuire,
I think you are doing a great job with the blog site! I especially like that you post what is happening in class. That is one of the main reasons that I check this site often. It is nice to see what is going on in the classroom and to be informed as well.

Thanks for all that you do!


Steph Swackhamer
(Trevor's mom)

Anonymous said...

Daily assignments on the blog would be nice especially when someone is absent. I think Mr. McGuire likes the blog because he feels to old for MySpace.com
HA HA.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Mcguire,
I would like to see more student interaction with each other on the blog. I think it would be fun and interesting for the kids if there were extra activities that would involve them interacting with each other and/or working together to solve things. It would be nice if they had to work with different people on different assignments, so as to keep them from gravitating to the same groups. I am so impressed with the blog and the time you devote to it that it is really hard to make any suggestions on how to make it better. I agree with Kristy that if there are things we as parents can do to help, please let us know; otherwise, I applaud your efforts and I enjoy reading the blogs.

Thank You Again!
Susan Young

Anonymous said...

Mr. McGuire This is my first time visiting this site and I think I would have to agree with Josh's mom. I beleave that if this blog included the home work you would have alot less students not bringing in their work because the parents would have the option of coming online to check the blog for homework and the students could not get out of doing it because we would all know.... Thank You so much Vickie Staffan (Brittany Murphy's mom)

Mr. McGuire said...

Thank you to all for the positive response. I am thinking about putting a spot on the page for daily class activities. I think this is a good idea, and one that could help parents, and students that are absent. I could include homework too, but basically, the only homework is the Read at Home Log. Again, I appreciate all of the comments and suggestions.