Greetings fellow bloggers! Your posts made for an interesting and informative reading session at Starbucks over the weekend (after I finished reading The Blind Side of course). It is exciting that we are now underway with discovering ways to funnel technology into use in the classroom.
Many of you stated that you would like to either a) learn about the benefits of setting up a classroom blog or b) how to improve the classroom blog you already have in place. This common curiosity leads us to the focus for this week. Edublogs.com is a website designed specifically for educators who are interested in incorporating technology into communication with students and parents. Each year they choose the top blogs for several different categories, such as best student
blog and best teacher blog. Although the discussion for this class takes place on a blog, the primary focus for this class, ironically, is not blogging; we are merely using this blog to foster discussion and unearth new technologies that may be useful in your classroom. If there is enough interest, there may be a separate class in the future that focuses primarily on blogging. If you currently have or are planning to create a classroom blog, please take a look at these helpful hints, guidelines and other policies through sharepoint: https://owa.tahomasd.us/owa/redir.aspx?C=5e4e8dd7441749f08be4ef7bbe4d057d&URL=http%3a%2f%2fintranet%2fcentraloffice%2fTL%2ftechnology%2fTeacher%2520Tech%2520Resources%2fblogging%2fdefault.aspx
45 comments:
After browsing through several of the listed blogs, I chose "Two Writing Teachers" because the format was artistic, clean, and fun to look at. Admittedly, I am drawn to websites and blogs that are colorful and professional looking. I also thought the content was relevant, up to date (recent post on 2/7 by Ruth), and all of the links I tried worked beautifully, ie., "Deal With It! Powerful Words from Smart Young Women". Here's the link: http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/
Kim, I have to agree that if a blog does not look professional, I usually won't bother reading. Something in me says, "If the creator was lazy with the appearance of a blog, then they will probably be lazy with their content," even though I know that is not always the case.
~Brandon Betlach
I enjoyed reading Christine Thurston's blog...it was visually pleasing and informative to parents as to what is going on in the classroom. I also enjoyed the two writing teachers blog. I liked their insight and perspective on classroom management and morale-boosting comments for students. I am always looking for fresh, new ideas from other teachers!
Denise Strom
http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/
Christine's blog is such a wonderful window into her classroom, and set the bar high for viewing the "award winners," most of which I found tedious in comparison. My favorite blog to follow professionally is Joyce Valenza's The Neverending Search: www.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch
I enjoyed reading the blog called Always Learning (http://mscofino.edublogs.org/) and the Pissed Off Teacher (http://pissedoffteeacher.blogspot.com/). I liked the lay out of each of the blogs and the writing style of both was very entertaining. I was really drawn to the "tell it like it is" style of both blogs. They seemed real to me and am looking forward to following them further!
I dug the Mr. Robbo - The P.E. Geek blog. First of all, the name is pretty awesome and it definitely caught my eye. Secondly, I enjoyed viewing the YouTube videos since I am a visual learner. How the Eminen video was made was interesting.
http://mrrobbo.wordpress.com/
After clicking on about 8 blogs from the "best of" list, I was a little dazed and confused. So I took a look at Christine Thurston's blog and have to say it was my favorite!
http://www.missthurstonsblog09-10.blogspot.com/
I chose "Musings from a Not So Master-Teacher".
There were several reasons I selected this blog. First, the title made me laugh at teaching in general and how sometimes we can choose not to take ourselves so seriously.
Secondly, the entries were very much heartfelt, honest, witty, and true to what I often see in my classroom. He comments on how he has made the shift to higher level thinking and although that means really thinking through the lessons--kids can still be bored and not have the "edge" to the lesson he hoped.
I also saw comparisons with teaming, searching through data for "data driven info". This excerpt also made me smirk
" The curriculum specialist adds, "It's like we're playing Tetris drunk. Sometimes I wonder if we get drunk on Data and miss out on why we need data in the first place."
The layout was clean and pleasing to the eye and I really liked his masthead at the top. :) He is also a very good writer and I enjoyed "being" in his classroom and his "brain".
Overall, I think I will actually go back and read his blog again and maybe even comment!
http://jtspencer.blogspot.com/
I really enjoyed the two writing teachers blog. It was appealing to the eye, it was easy to see what the past subjects were and I could see the use for parents. http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/
I will also follow "Musings from a Not So Master-Teacher" because I found it 'real' and heart felt. I will probably revisit each site frequently.
http://jtspencer.blogspot.com/
I read Christine's blog first and loved the way she highlighted her students and their work. How fun it must be to see yourself or your work on the computer. What a great way to publish to a realistic audience. I read several of the award winning blogs. The one I liked best was http://www.ncs-tech.org/. As I was exploring the blog I found some computer lesson plan ideas that I will try with my class.
I liked the cool cat teacher blog the best because the print was gigantic and I could read it without squinting and also the pic at the top with the cat and dog. However, I'm a little freaked out that people spend this much time blogging and reading blogs. Makes me wonder if they ever leave the computer. Yuk! http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
I enjoyed the tip of the Iceberg blog http://kerileebeasley.com/ because it had an interesting entry about the benefits of video games for kids.
I liked the Pissed Off Teacher blog (http://pissedoffteeacher.blogspot.com/). The title grabbed my attention because it seemed so out of place - I guess I was assuming all the blogs were created by teachers to communicate with their students/parents. Once I read through it I realized it was more of an outlet for the teacher and I liked that. I also appreciated the visuals - there were pictures posted for each entry, and it made it very interesting to poke around her blog. When I tried looking through some of the other blogs that weren't laid out as linear and/or weren't quite as visual I found myself comparing them to the Pissed Off Teacher blog and found I liked that one the best.
As a side note - it made me appreciate teaching in Tahoma even more when I read some of her entries about having to call security all the time to remove out of control high school students in her class and when she said she was usually scolded when asking her principal for help. I just realized I LOVE working at LWES and really value the support I get as a teacher there.
I really enjoyed reading through the Two Writing Teachers Blog. One of the things that I found fascinating was part of the blog talked about how she posted a poetry lesson on Facebook about snow because school was closed. As teachers I think we have many avenues to facilitate learning with our students and there are so many social networking sites out there that we can promote learning we should use them. We know that students are on these sites which means we would have another avenue to connect with them and promote learning in a way that would be interesting for them.http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/
I also enjoyed the Two Writing Teacher's Blog. I made a copy of the Quotes page because I'm always looking for interesting ways to emphasize an idea - with kids and adults. Mark Twain's quote has been one of my favorites since I visited his hometown in Missouri: "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." It reminds me the importance of making learning interesting and relavent to students' lives! I looked at the next 2 runners up, but I really prefer Christine Thurstons overall. She does such a nice job of presenting student work, sending reminders to parents thru Twitter, and sharing important learnings in the classroom. Her blog is professional looking and engaging at the same time. She saves her personal thoughts for other venues.http://www.missthurstonsblog09-10.blogspot.com/
I loved the piano stairs. I remember how long the staircases are in europeon metro stations!
I admire Christine's blog. It's fun to see pictures of the kids.
I had two favorites: One, Blogging About The Web 2.0 Connected Classroom, posed some good food for thought about what should be the important outcomes of our teaching and the kids' learning. I liked another, Cool Cat Teacher, because it started out with a pitch for the Brain Rules book; this is a great book for all teachers in addition to being an easy read.
In a slightly negative vein, my main thought about most of the blogs was, "Who has time to write or read all of this stuff?" While it is good content, I suppose, it might be perceived as more info overload, which leaves less time for other important things in life such as walking to dog, talking with real people in your family, etc. There's a part of me that hopes that nobody except Brandon actually takes time to read my words, since I'm sure that there are more edifying and healthy ways to spend your time.
I really enjoyed visiting Christine's blog, it was informative for parents/families of students, as well as for other's just visiting. I, too, am the type of person that if the site isn't pleasing to the eye, I will probably move on quickly. I even found myself doing this with a few listed in the top blog nominations. I spent a lot of time wandering John Spencer's blog, Musings from a Not-So Master Teacher. I found his entries heartfelt and it sent my brain into a tailspin as I thought about some of my past students as well as a few in my class right now. Many of our students have had to deal with, or are dealing with, some pretty grown-up, mature, issues. We often forget about life outside of the classroom and that life is not always what we expect or think.
There were a couple that I really liked for two different purposes. The first one I really enjoyed reading to help my teaching as well as to help find technology tools for my own blog was
http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/. The second was I really liked as an example of a blog for my own classroom was the one that Christine Thurston does for her classroom. My challenge is just the time it takes to do it. I just love it, but am not sure that I will have time to update my school website and do a blog.
http://www.missthurstonsblog09-10.blogspot.com/
As I looked through the web sites I really wanted to find web sites that were more geared in the classroom but many of the websites seemed for teachers or older kids. Remember I am always in the 1st grade mode when I am looking on the web or working on my computer. I have a quick attention span it is hard to hold me in. I then was captured by the title of the PE Geek. Why would a PE teacher have a Blog? What would they be talking about diet? Exercise? So I read it and read about their new school. Lucky! Then they were talking about change and tossing out the junk in their building preparing for the move. I think our school would benefit from some spring cleaning. I thought it was import to say that he could access everything he needed from the web… or save it on his flash drive. I always purge my room at the end of the year and rarely say, “I wish I had that…whatever.” But staying or focus for the assignment. I really like Ms. Thurston’s web site because I could follow with what she is teaching in the classroom and what she is working on with her kids. But WOW she has put in a ton of time and thinking in that Blog. Nice work! Wanna do one for me? Just kidding! I really think that I can do a “doable” version for me of her blog. I am going to try!
Sam... send the link when you start... I will copy and paste....just kidding. :)
I am glad we all got to see what someone from our own district is doing in regards to blogging with a primary class. Christine's blog is clear concise and relevent to her classroom. I found the award winning blogs seemed to lack one main ingredient: a student's viewpoint. I did like some of the ideas presented in the Two Writing Teachers blog but I think I would like to see how teachers are involving students in the blogging experience. http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com
I was surprised to see such a mixture of personal and professional posts. I will be on the lookout for something either directly related to classroom teaching only or one that involves students a bit more.
From: Teresa Eccles
As I was reading these blogs, I found that I was either immediately engaged with a site or ready to move on within the first minute. The qualities I looked for when visiting these sites were relevance of the content to my teaching, and information that gave me a quick glimpse into what the site was about. The blog “Two Writing Teachers”, was attractive, neat, and organized with tabs that allowed me to know a bit about the bloggers, and their mission statement. I also found some of the shared writing lessons to be worth reading.
There is an article on the Edublog home page under Latest Awards News titled Is it Obvious to Your First Time Visitors What Your Blog is About? that confirms that first time readers are looking for quick access to basic information. http://edublogawards.com/is-it-obvious-to-your-first-time-visitors-what-your-blog-is-about/http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/
OK - so I read all the above comments and was interested to read "Two Writing Teachers", "The Pissed Off Teacher", and a few others, but when I got there I was like OMG - WHO has time for this!!??!?!? I have three IEP's due next week - forget about catching up on other paperwork, the homework packet, and lesson plans! So anyway, after reading through some of the blogs - they were somewhat entertaining, interesting, etc... But really ... I don't think I'd spend any more time reading through them. And then I found the Tip of the Iceberg - Trying to get beyond the tip of the IT Iceberg. I actually spent quite a bit of time looking at the blog, writing down some things that interested me, and actually learned quite a few things. There's a wide variety of info from the top 50 IPhone apps to how to use Wordles with 1st graders and the value of technology game-based learning. You should really check it out!
I've spent a bit of time today, while visiting my family and watching the Olympics, setting up a blog at edublog, the site with the 10 Ten Reasons to Use Blogs to Teach link. Although I did flag a couple of the blogs from the list as resources for the future (Always Learning & Tip of the Iceberg) I really craved another list of best classroom blogs instead of best education blogs. I agree that Christine's is fantastic, but it would be nice to see a variety of ways to have a classroom blog.
Finally, I hope I'm not posting past the due date. Would it be possible to include the due date in each post, although I probably won't be confused again until April vacation. Thanks!
I ended up finding a very useful site in the Life Feast blog. This blog is busy with all kinds of widgets and other stuff so I just kept scrolling until I came to a post about Quizlet. It's a site that helps you set up flash cards for your students and gives them ways to study and become familiar with the vocabulary. You can share your flash cards with other teachers and they have existing ones for math, science, literature, etc. I just might use it!
http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/
http://quizlet.com/
As with the other people, I found several blogs very thought provoking. However, the Music is Not For Insects was the most fun for me. My husband is a musician, so I just had to check it out. It is a mix of the practical—how to reach different learning styles as a music teacher—but could be applied to other teaching, as well as interesting videos that have a message. Piano stairs was hilarious, and made me think. Its main message was that fun can change the way people think. I have to agree that learning has to be more focused on the enjoyment from learning that a person can get. I was surprised how visual the blogs are, mostly slides and movies with small snippets of writing. Interesting!
http://mystro2b.edublogs.org/
Laura Bowden
It was interesting checking out so many different blogs. I like the one that celebrate kids and classrooms, like Christine Thurstons. My favorite was Lean Me Good. When reading his writing, it was evident to me that he likes his job, enjoys his students and finds humor in the day in and day out of working in a school.
I, like so of the previous posts, wonder how much time it takes to blog effectively.
I tried to look at several of them, but got very frustrated with the slow download time. Remember when it took all morning for the computer to start up on that old dial up service? Now, a few seconds wait is still too long. After trying a few, I found myself coming back to the "Musings from a Not-So Master Teacher" for a few reasons. It's title intrigued me and I could empathisize with many of the ideas expressed. Taught me that my own site needs to have a 'hook' and be real. I also liked Miss Thurston's site. Setting a goal now.
Wow, a person could spend all their time reading blogs! I had no idea…
I especially enjoyed Christine Thurston’s blog, it felt homey. I enjoyed the familiarity because she was sharing her students and class, all within our little district. I also was intrigued by several other blogs on the list of “top teachers.” I thought “Learn Me Good” http://learnmegood2.blogspot.com/ was just fun to read, simple and nothing flashy – I really liked the guy, could be a good friend. Most I felt were too wordy and I just did not want to keep reading. What I really liked about the “Two Writing Teachers” blog, http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/presentations/ was how easy it is to get to know them. I appreciated the tabs across the top so you knew a little about whose opinion you may be listening to, they had a nice mission statement that was easy to locate (a tab at the top) – just very easy to navigate and locate information you may want to discuss. However, since I am a special ed teacher and the BIS at LWES my interest is always in finding current information about working with the real difficult kids and so I looked outside of the nominations and found a very useful blog titled – “Positive Behavioral Intervention & Supports Blogs” http://www.pbis.vcu.edu/ this is the one I found most helpful for my classroom.
First of all, as others have stated above me, I cannot emphasize enough how much I judge a blog by its layout. There were a few blogs that I didn't even bother reading, because I was distracted by how many advertisements were strewn about the webpage and the sheer number of photos. In particular, there was one blog where after every post it listed 3 different "you might be interested in..." links including a thumbnail picture. I found this highly distracting and it broke up the flow of the blog.
What I do look for in a "good" blog is one that uses a variety of mediums to convey stories (i.e. photos, written word, slideshows, videos) and draws from real life experiences.
I came across one blog called iTeach that peaked my interest (http://iteach20.blogspot.com/). What I liked about this blog was its simple format and the tone of the posts. Although the blogger talked about serious issues of today (in particular social media), he did so in a way that was easy to read and witty. I also enjoyed reading excerpts from the students in his classroom - it was nice to get their perspective in addition to his.
- Suz Chen
I have to agree that if a blog is not visually appealing - I probably won't spend much time there. I thought that the tween teacher one was easy to read and visually impressive. (http://tweenteacher.com/). I liked her post about how to "fix the schools". It seemed that the majority of these blogs were designed for teacher audiences. I really liked how Christine's blog was kid-centered and offered an enjoyable glimpse of her classroom. I bet parents and students absolutely LOVE it.
As a newcomer to blogs and blogging, I have to say that Box of Tricks and Scholastic Scribe were clearest to me as a potential subscriber/blogger. I liked the way both blogs were organized. As for Christine Thurston's blog...totally agree with many of my colleagues! It rocks! That's how I would envision a blog for elementary school kids and their families! Great job, Christine! I was mesmerized by the title "Pissed Off Teacher"...of course, the title drew me to examine her blog...hmmmm. Interesting!
Numerous words on a website overwhelm me quite quickly. I find that I have no idea where to start reading, so I often choose not to read the information at all. Many of these blogs had too many words on the first page. The blog that I liked took a different approach. There were pictures that where linked to the blog posts. The pictures represented what the post was about and drew you to click on them. This blog is called www.boxoftricks.net. I also liked the blog because it features tips and tricks for technology in education. Having a chance to take a peek at other blogs reminds me to be a concise writer and make sure that my blog is visually appealing. Melissa Morlock
I read through numeorus blogs, I found that Christine's was also my favorite! As a parent I would love to follow that blog and see pictures of my child and the activities that they are working on. Being a SLP I have quite a few kids on my caseload who are nonverbal and not able to inform their parents of the activities of their day. I know parents really miss this and having a blog like that would fill them in on what their child is doing. It would also allow the parents to ask questions and support retaining the information. It is also easy to navigate and I am drawn to blogs that are not overwhelmed with words, but pictures.
http://www.missthurstonsblog09-10.blogspot.com/
It's amazing what teachers are doing with blogs! WOW! After looking through a handful I noticed a pattern emerging about myself...too many words on a page and I just got glassy-eyed or if there wasn't something interactive to click on - my intest started to fade.
I loved Miss Thurston's blog! I felt apart of her classroom instantly. The cartoon image of her with the interactive welcome was such a personal touch.
I also liked twowritingteachers as well. She too had different interactive elements to her page (e.g., the voting button, pictures, images) interspersed between text that kept me engaged.
http://www.missthurstonsblog09-10.blogspot.com/
http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/
I really enjoyed looking at Christine's blog. It was amazing to see all of the content that can be shared rather concisely on a blog. It makes me excited to attempt to set up a blog of my own.
After reading some of the blogs posted, I enjoyed reading the Two Writing Teachers blog the most. The blog was well organized and it contained some ideas that I can try with my students in writing. I particularly liked the idea of showing my students a video clip and then having them write about it. This could be done with narrative and expository! Thsi blog is found at http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/
-Jessica Cooper
I enjoyed two of the blogs that I looked at:
http:twowritingteachers.wordpress.com- I found it interesting about the definition of collaboration and how it requires risk. I also liked www.missthurstonblog09-10.blogspot.com- The info shared in a quick and clear format with visuals to support and clarify.
It took me a while to slog through the assortment of blogs listed -- some were quite specific (music, math, pe) some were way over my head or "too busy" to grasp, but one in particular caught my eye. The "Box of Tricks" blog (www.boxoftricks.net) had a nice variety of useable web tools that even a relative novice might be able to incorporate into her learning (if she ever gets some time!)
After looking through many of the blogs, I foumnd that I liked Christine Thurston's the most. Many of the blogs were very confusing and busy to look at. They had advertisements along the side etc. that made it hard to find he pertinent information. Christine's is clear, concise, easy to read, and easy to navigate. I loved seeing the kids work on the blog as well as the videos showing the children at work. This is extremely important to show parents so that they understand what learning is taking place in the room. I loved also that she put classroom deadlines for work that is due or for upcoming events that are happening. What a wonderful way to communicate with families!! I can't wait to try it!!
There were two blogs I really enjoyed viewing:Christine's blog was so fun to browse and very child centered. If I had a child in her class I would visit often. The blog is another great way to communicate with parents about the learning occurring in the classroom. As a teacher I am aware that parents in our community need multiple opportunities to see what is happening in classrooms from a variety of sites.
I also enjoyed reading the blog about learning styles. While this was a bit of a buzz word for years we all know kids learn in different ways and teachers adapt lessons to insure children are successful. The blog confirmed the practices that we use every day.
M. Rowe
I like Christine Thurston's blog. The visual communication with families is a real plus. I wonder how I would use this method of communicating in addition to or rather than using Swift.
L. McMahon
I, too, loved Christine Thurston's blog. Parents and students must love to visit her site. It looks like a great communication tool for students and parents to use at home to facilitate conversation about learning, the classroom and school community. I would like to know more about setting up a personal blog. However, it looks like it might occupy a bit of my time. Even though I found many of the blogs interesting, I can't see myself visiting them very frequently just for the time factor.
I found two things that will fit nicely into the first grade curriculum. Barnaby Australian Bear is a story about a bear that is taking a flight to Australia. It refers to a map noting major locations and interesting Australia wildlife.
I discovered some great videos for the Sea Life unit under Biology Life Science; Educational Videos for Kids; marine animals.
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