Education Blogs

[Cyndi Danner-Kuhn]

I would like you to explore several education blogs and find at least two you WILL keep reading. As an educator it is extremely important to keep up, read and know what the newest trends are. So, I have a long list off both my porportal and my delicious in the category called blogs. Please have a look. Find two that really spark your interest. Explore them completely. Then write a reflection about the two you selected and what your learned and why you will keep reading them. Make you they are bookmarked in in your social bookmarking site.
http://guest.portaportal.com/cyndidannerkuhn
http://del.icio.us/cyndidannerkuhn

[Bryan Gilligan]

I actually chose three as follows

http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2006/01/where_can_...
http://keytech.edublogs.org/
http://edtechvision.org/

The primary reason I chose these particular Blogs is that the first one holds a lot of interest for me as a designer, the various topics and links that relate to design in this blog make it one I'm more likely to check on a regular basis. The other two give overviews of new technologies and how to more effectively use existing technology. I didn't really have any WOW moments while looking over these blogs, I did have one or two moments where I stopped and pondered at just how useful some of this information could be. The Human Network and Google Earth (I already knew about Google Earth from trying to plan trips) on KeyTech and the Subject directories, Library Gateways and how to successfully search on the internet by edtech VISION. All three sites managed content well and were overall nice to look at, though edtech was pretty cluttered looking, the information was pretty good.

[Mary Gere Bridger]

I found two on my own (I know you won't mind!) that fit into my goals and needs. Both of them are from "official" children's lit sources - which is nice, because it gives them some authority and some history, but they sometimes lack in edginess - which helps keep you reading. However, they will both help me.

http://www.hbook.com/blog/- this is from the editor of HornBook magazine, a book review magazine. Because the focus is children's literature, this one is really relevant to what I hope to be doing in the school library.

The other is from the American Library Association - http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/

There are so many Children's Literature blogs available, so here's a list by some folks in the know, in case you'd like to see more http://www.hbook.com/resources/librarians/blogs.asp

[Cyndi Danner-Kuhn]

Thanks for sharing those, I will add them to my list.

[Kelly Thomas]

The first blog I chose was http://www.techcrunch.com/about-techcrunch/. I chose this blog because it can really keep me up on all the technology going on in the world. I am excited to follow up on this blog and continue learning as much as I can about technology. I feel that as a future teacher, that technology will one day become a bigger part of our lives than we might realize, and I need to know about it. This was a very professional blog and I feel I can gain a lot of information from it.

The other blog I want to continue to follow is one that we had to do weekly podcasts over. Although I have only listened in a few times, I think I am hooked. There is great information from this blog. The site is http://davidwarlick.com/connectlearning. Another blog I am a fan of is http://techchicktips.net/ . I want to continue to grow more as an educator and by listening to these blogs, I feel that I can stay connected to the technology world. I am not the best person when it comes to using technology, but when I listen to these podcasts I feel like if they can do it, so can I. I want to engage my students in the classroom and I know that technology can help me do so.

[Lindsey Pierron]

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
http://www.mpsomaha.org/willow/sanborn/blog/

I looked at a couple of different education blogs, and decided on two that I will continue to look at in the future. The first one is the CoolCat Teacher Blog. I was interested in this site because of one of the podcasts I have listened to. When I looked at the blog, I found a lot of useful links. The topics discussed in this blog include the possibility that teens and adults can suffer from a “connection addiction,” as well as a number of different things. Every topic has links to more information, and that is one of the best parts about this Web site. One of my favorite things that I read in this blog, was called “Why am I fighting for Social Networking,” in which a woman questions her reasons for advocating social networking. The author talked about social networking in school, in terms of what it currently looks like and what it should look like. I found this link particularly interesting. This site also has links to the CoolCat Teacher podcasts, which I have enjoyed listening to. I will definitely continue to look at this site because the links available have a lot of information, on a variety of topics.
The second blog that I found particularly interesting was the Super Students Blog. I think the idea of having students add daily notes on the blog is not only innovative, it is exciting. I really like this site because it provides insight into what the students really think of what happened during their day. The most recent post was very interesting to me, because the author, Nicola, describes her class as being particularly chatty on the given day. She also talks about how the “best spellers” took a hard spelling test, and the rest of the class took an easier test. I love the way this blog shows what students observe and get out of their day at school. The only problem with this site is that it doesn’t seem to have been updated recently. I hope that when I check back for more posts, there will be more updates. I really enjoyed learning about school from the student’s perspective.

[Carlotta Patterson]

After reading many I chose these two blogs. The first one is Teaching for the Future by Dave LaMorte. This site has both a blog and a podcast. I love the pictures he uses on his site. I wonder if he draws them or if his students do it. I like the way the author is honest about his experiences and that the blog specifically addresses the use of technology in the classroom. It also has a good list of links with each blog so that I can do more research if I need to. Find Dave’s blog at www.teachingforthefuture.com/index.html
The second blog I liked was The Junk Edublog by J. Milton M. Blake, Jr. The blog that sold me included an article about motivating middle school students. So far I have found a lot about elementary students but not as much information about middle schoolers. This is why I choose this blog. Find this blog at: http://theedublog.blogspot.com/

[Robin Berndt]

oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blogs - 19k
specialedlaw.blogs.com/ - 48k

I looked at these two blog sites and found that I would visit these more that some of the others that I had looked at. I did take some time to look at some of the others that you all have posted and they are great ones too. I like the top 100 education blogs because there is a veriaty of topics. It talked about technology and I feel the more I can learn about technology the better off I will be. with the special education blogs I feel that I can learn a lot from them because I am a special education para and I learn from others as well as doing. I all so think that it is nice to give ideas to others and beable to talk to others in the same field.

[Trevor Duell]

At first I really struggled with finding what I felt was relevant material to me. I have found that I have to be creative with the advice that most educators give me. There are some wonderful ideas out there but it does take a little creativity to figure out how exactly to make it work in the band room. Coming up with "adapters" all the time can get a little frustrating but I found two blogs out there that are wonderful resources for MUSIC educators. I feel that both Keith Mason and James Frankel speak my language. They know what it is to teach a room full of middle schoolers armed with noise makers. Where the rubber meets the road, they know the how and why. I have listened to several of their podcasts and have offered reflections of my own. I will continue to make it a point to go to their sites for "professional development", social networking, and different ways of doing old things.

www.musictechforme.com
www.jamesfrankel.com

[Rayleen Shelton]

http://www.digitalchalkie.com/
http://anne.teachesme.com/

I chose the first blog site because it deals primarily with technology related educational issues. I think I will be able to get good ideas and advice from this site once I start teaching. It's hard to know now what issues will arise and I think this will be a great place to fall back on for certain technology issues.
The second blog site I chose was primarily because I found most of the topics and responses interesting. The site itself doesn't really pertain to my content area, but it's always nice to expand your horizon. Besides it never hurts to become more educated.

[Karen]

http://www.intelligenic.com/blog
http://www.techchicktips.net
http://www.speakingofhistory.blogspot.com

I picked three blogs to hopefully follow. The first one is Dan Schmitt and I have thoroughly enjoyed his podcasts, which influenced my decision to choose this blog. He is easy to listen to and covers a wide array of topics (how to ask the right questions for an interview, getting to the heart of the discussion, thoroughly analyzing a topic, etc) for the classroom. He generally provides suggestions as to how to incorporate his theme into the classroom via a podcast. He has guests on his show as well and provides other links to explore. I do believe my students will benefit from his blog/podcast, as well as me.

My second choice to follow is with Anna and Helen. I found these ladies easy to listen to. I liked how they recognized or give credit to others in their podcasts (shoutouts). They provide other links to explore and make an effort to keep up with the ever-changing tehnology world. They are informative and I like their sense of humor. In order for me to keep up with the technology world and the terms, etc. out there, I think Anna and Helen will definitely help me out in that area - a reason to read and listen to what they have to say!

My third blog is with Eric Langhorst. I really liked how he made the effort to relate and keep in touch with his students via his podcasts. As I did enjoy listening to his podcasts, this influenced me to follow what he has to say. He adds photos along with his podcasts, which I have also enjoyed. I believe his site is definitely educational and creative. He also has no problems sharing his ideas - another reason I picked his blog/podcast. His blog/podcasts also have many other links to explore and since I like history, this is a bonus and will benefit me as a teacher and my students as well.

[Brock Funke]

I did some searching and found a couple of blogs I really like. The first is http://wordpress.com/tag/elementary-education/ This website has a ton of good blogs. Each day there is a featured "Blog of the Day". The blogs on this site deal with tips, experiences, teaching strategies, etc. All of the material is related to elementary education, that is another reason I chose this site.
The second site I found was http://teacherlingo.com/blogs/default.aspx?GroupID=7. Another great site with good blogs for elementary teachers. The rest of the site has great materials beside the blogs. The blogs are very informational though. I think I will continue to read these blogs because reading about of teachers experiences and what they found to work well, will help me out a lot when I'm teaching.

[Jess]

• Blogging and RSS: What is it? Will Richardson
http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan04/richardson.shtml

This is the first blog that sparked my interest. Will Richardson is the Supervisor of Instructional Technology at Hunterdon Central Regional High School. His blogs all tend to relate to technology in the schools, which isn’t a big surprise I guess, since that is his job. Anyways, I thought his blogs looked interesting because technology in the schools is always changing, and after this class is over, I am going to need to keep up on it for the future. Many of his blogs talk about educational blogging, and how to keep it safe in your classroom. Educational blogs is definitely something I want to look into for my classroom someday.

• Teaching for the Future
Dave LaMorte:all about implementing media and technology literacy. I talk about the importance of media and technology in the cl
http://www.teachingforthefuture.com/index.html

This is the next blog I want to start reading up on. In this blog, Dave LaMorte discusses some of the issues currently facing teachers in the classroom related to technology. For instance, in one of his blogs he talks about how some students are using their cell phones to record teachers being mean to the students. He discusses whether or not this is a violation of the teacher’s rights, or if the students are doing the right thing. He has some very interesting views on things and brings up some intriguing concepts.

• Moving at the Speed of Creativity
Wesley Fryer:is an educator, author, digital storyteller and change agent.
http://www.wesfryer.com/default.htm

This is my third blog that I am going to start reading. By just reading a few of Wesley Fryer blogs, you can tell he is very well educated with technology. He discusses problems he has with his new Macbook and Iphone, and what he did to solve those problems. I think this blog will be interesting to read because I am not the best with technology, and keeping up with it is a struggle. So, Wesley’s blog will help me stay ahead of the technology game.