Blogs for Review
As you will soon see, blogs are easy to create and maintain and can often be created for free using one of a number of blog services. They also encourage interaction through the use of comments and many services allow users to upload media (images, videos). For these reasons, blogs are great classroom tools. Educators use blogs as student writing spaces, classroom organizers, professional reflection spaces, and for many more purposes.
Take a few minutes to have a look at these education-related blogs. Choose any 5 that interest you, or read more if you are so inclined! Some of them are intended to be used with students, others are not. Remember that people express themselves in different ways and you may not enjoy everyone's writing style or the content of their blogs. They are merely examples of how educators are blogging.
- James Logan Courier-This blog is maintained by a high school's Journalism and News Production classes. Posts include everything from daily bulletins regarding school functions and announcements, to student-produced news stories, to interesting bulletins from other news services.
- Hobo Teacher-Here's a humorous look at the teaching world from two teachers who manage to say everything you've always wanted to say about the joys, frustrations, and funny little moments that our jobs involve! Anyone who has taught middle or high school can probably identify with this post about a Gas Leak.
- Kimberly Moritz BlogPosts-This superintendent of schools writes about her personal educational beliefs and practices, as well as topics specifically related to her district. Check out this post about Why Teachers Have to Keep Learning.
- Extreme Biology-This is an award-winning classroom blog of a high school biology teacher in an Atlanta-area private school. Students post about different topics related to the study of biology. "Sickle-Cell Anemia Isn't Half Bad!" is a typical student post exploring biology in action. Check out the comments in response to the student's question at the end of her post.
- What's Happening in Room 8-Here's an example of a teacher using a blog as a class newsletter, including pictures, links, stories, and comments.
- Kindergarten Tales-The large font, short posts, and visually engaging format of this blog is perfectly suited to its kindergarten audience. This blogger also includes many interactive functions, adding dimension to an otherwise "newsletter"-type blog. Check out her post on Going Green in Kindergarten.
- 25 Days to Make a Difference-On December 1, 2007, ten-year-old Laura Stockman decided to honor her grandfather's memory by helping to make a difference in the world every day for twenty five days. She did "little things that kids can do." And she blogged about her efforts. This post, "It Doesn't Matter if You're 6 or 26 or 106," includes a video Laura made about what she has learned through blogging. Laura's message and blog have inspired thousands of people to make a difference every day. If you are not convinced that blogs and other social media have the potential to change the world (and to empower our students), please take time to explore Laura's site.
- A Difference-On this blog, a math teacher explores concepts related to education and shares his own pedagogical practices, especially as they relate to technology. In "My Class Blogs," he explains how he goes about setting up his multiple class blogs each school year.
- The KinderKids' Blog-Another great example of a kindergarten teacher using blogs to engage her students and parents can be found here. Check out the list of names on the right side of the page. By clicking on a student's name, you can see all of the posts that student has made. After clicking on a name, be sure to play the message in the "Baby Mail" box on the right side of the page--you can hear the student introduce himself!
- Two Writing Teachers-This blog, written by two friends who both teach writing and who live 500 miles apart, explores pedagogy, practices, and educational topics related to their classroom experiences. "Letters of Gratitude" discusses a powerful third grade writing project -- sending thank you letters to relief workers in Haiti.
- Mark's edtechblog-This third grade teacher's extensive archive of blog posts discuss his personal experiences using technology in education. Check out his post on "Is this SSR, 2.0?" for a discussion about how technology is changing the way our kids read.
- Betchablog-Educator Chris Betcher uses this blog to discuss how schools and educators can better address the needs of 21st century learners. Check out his post on "The Myth of the Digital Native," which addresses the misconception that growing up immersed in technology has made this generation of students technologically proficient.
- SP8-17 Math Blog-This blog is outdated, because the teacher starts a new one each year; however, this post, which was written by a student, is worth taking a look at. This blog uses the "Scribe Post" method (click here for an explanation of how these work). This teacher's school also maintains a Scribe Post Hall of Fame for outstanding student posts, which also includes a list of Class Blogs that Use a Scribe.
- Cool Cat Teacher Blog-Educator Vicki Davis uses her blog to post videos, presentations, links, and MANY other resources regarding technology in education. Check out her post, "Spies Like Us," which talks about the realities of teaching in a society where every cell phone is a recording device.
- Creating Lifelong Learners-Blogger Mathew Needleman states that his site "aims to offer practical tips for elementary teachers in teaching traditional and new media literacies, valuing students and their cultures, appealing to different learning modalities, and integrating technology in the curriculum with an emphasis on video production and podcasting." His post, "Energize Your Classroom" is a great example of how he does just that.
Hungry for more? Check out these sites which contain links to hundreds more educational blogs!