Using Google in Education

Have you heard about all of the great ways to use Google in your classroom?  I keep hearing more and more of it, and I'm so excited to explore these new ways.

If you're interested in learning more, check out this document from Google that lists (and links) all kinds of things to use in your classroom.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16pGWXaoxC6CtVV1kZ0I9PgtSntZP80_2gWmaxKSLB18/edit?pli=1

Become a Google Certified Teacher

Interested in using Technology in your instruction, but you want to know more.  Check out the Google Teacher Academy (GTA).  Google provides 2 day hand's on workshops and presentations on using Google Tools in the classroom.  It really looks like an amazing opportunity.  What's the draw back?  You have to pay your own way unfortunately. :(

Right now, the applications are open for London and Stockholm in December.  Consider it.   I will definitely be applying if they come back to the states anywhere closer to the East Coast.

http://www.google.com/edu/programs/google-teacher-academy/

Integrating Content and Technology to Differentiate Instruction Webinar

Just got an email about a free webinar from Education Week Thursday October 3rd from 2-3.

Here's the description of the webinar:

"The key is individualizing instruction and education for every student," says Dennis Stockdale, superintendent of Garrett-Keyser-Butler Community School District, in Indiana. With the plethora of resources available to teachers and students, creating customized learning paths is an increasing reality happening today in classrooms across the country. This webinar will highlight the experiences of two expert educators that have successfully led the integration of free resources into classrooms to personalize instruction, motivate students, and achieve success.

Participants will learn how to easily integrate free resources to differentiate instruction. They will learn from a recognized leader of a 1-to-1 school district that has successfully integrated iPads into classrooms and directly engaged application developers. Participants will also hear from a master teacher that has engaged 7th grade English students in the latest educational technologies for writing. The resulting personalization of learning and student empowerment has led to improvements in student motivation and achievement.

https://vts.inxpo.com/scripts/Server.nxp?LASCmd=AI:4;F:QS!10100&ShowKey=16409&partnerref=eblast&Referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fus-mg6.mail.yahoo.com%2Fneo%2Flaunch%3F.rand%3D1723507333%26action%3DshowLetter%26umid%3D2_0_0_1_8415141_AHrmjkQAAAQWUkMmOgAAAFkDSkk%26box%3DInbox%26src%3Dhp%26referer%3Dwww.yahoo.com

Thinking about 21st Century skills in a more low-tech setting

Found a great article today about a teachers' experiences incorporating 21st century skills in her access lacking school.  Great ideas, and it allows those "anti-tech" people out there to realize that it's not all about the technology.

BUT- I will also say that while her ideas are great, I hope that she (and the readers) wouldn't write off technology in instruction all together.  Technology is only a tool- absolutely- but it's a tool that allows for so much more then just single dimensional paper and pencil teaching. Something to think about.

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2013/09/10/fp_barclay_skills.html

Back to school wikispaces

Check out this wikispaces Back to School Wiki.  There's lots of ideas, tutorials, and handouts for communication.

http://wikisbacktoschool.wikispaces.com

"Teach"

Looking forward to a documentary on being a teacher on CBS at 8:00 (EST).  I'm trying to not be a skeptic by hoping it's realistic, but I think it's worth a watch.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57599775/queen-latifah-heads-to-the-classroom-in-teach/ 

Digital Learning webinars

Here's another great option.  Again it's tomorrow August 22nd, but you can always access old one's for later viewing. 

This one is run the Alliance for Excellent Education and is entitled: Back to School:
Diving Into Digital Learning. 


It's free and I'm sure it's worth exploring.

 http://media.all4ed.org/webinar-aug-22-2013

Making the pedagogical decisions needed to integrate technology

I just found this great webinar coming up Thursday August 22nd from Kappa Delta Pi.  If you're a member it's free.  Non-members, I do believe there's a small fee (maybe) but I'm not sure of the details.  If you can't make tomorrow's time, you can always access old webinars in the archive.

It's entitled "Don't Just Use Technology, Integrate It".

Check it out: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/821200698

Social Network for Educators

Did you know there is a social network for people interested in Web 2.0 Tools in the classroom?  Check out Classroom 2.0.  It's a great site where you can get lots and lots of information on using Web 2.0 tools in your instruction.  You do have to get approved as a member, but I'm thinking that this is more of a formality to protect the members from crazy spammers...but who knows.

Using Social Media in the Classroom

I found this great article that I wanted to share regarding using Social Media in the classroom.  Enjoy!

http://fluency21.com/blog/2013/03/25/the-benefits-of-using-social-media-in-the-classroom/

Lesson Ideas for using Podcasts

So many great options, but I have two simple ideas that could easily be adapted to many different content areas and lessons.

Lesson Title:
 Updated Presentations

Type of Web 2.0 Tool: 
Prezi (or Power Point) and Screen Capture app

Common Core Standards:
 Vary depending on the content, but the presentation would include the following:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.4 Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.5 Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest.

Brief Description of Overall Lesson:

Students will create an audio recording of their visual presentation. 

For any lesson that would normally have the students creating a power point and doing an in class presentation, give the assignment a Web 2.0 update.  Have students create a presentation on Prezi.  Then once they've created their visuals have them use a screen capture program (Quicktime, screencast-o-matic.com, etc).  Then these already recorded presentations could be presented in class, OR students can submit them electronically and have other students view them and give them feedback.  You could create a private YouTube Channel for them to submit them, or depending on the size they could be uploaded to a wiki or submitted on a blog.  Or you can even open up a dropbox account for your class and allow them access to different presentations. 

Lesson Title: Character Journals

Type of Web 2.0 tool: Create a podcast

Common Core Standards: Vary depending on the content and purpose used. 

Brief Description of Overall Lesson: Have students create first person podcasts based on a person (character or real person). 

When reading a novel (or even history, or science, any content with an important person), have the students choose a person.  Then have them research a particular situation for that person, or assign them a situation that they would have to create (for example: have them imagine what Jonas was going through in his end of the story ride out).  Then have the students create an audio journal of that person's experiences with that event. 

Podcasting and Videoblogging

Tonight I finally stole some time to go podcast exploring. There are some very amusing and interesting pieces of audio (and video) out there.

For the task of this course, there are a few podcasts that I explored and below you will find my review of them.

Grammar Girl- Not having been much of a podcast consumer, I didn't expect to know about any previously created podcasts, but Grammar girl was a great site that I've explored before.  Being a LA teacher there were instances in which, I myself, needed to know about a grammar rule (GASP-- How dare I not know, but isn't the true not necessarily knowing everything but rather knowing how to find it?).
But in one of those quests for knowledge I came across her site.

Now, not being a frequent grammar girl follower, I'm not sure how long she's been on this one particular site. It seems there's an entire site of podcasts waiting for the information hungry and she's one of the founders.  In my exploration I listened to numerous, but my favorite was one of her most popular podcasts discussing the difference between Affect and Effect, very informative indeed.

In addition to Grammar Girl, I'd suggest exploring that site http://www.quickanddirtytips.com because they have information on just about everything you can think of.

Stanford University: Oh my Stanford, you've really gone above and beyond huh?  How to educate the masses, right? Stanford has piles and piles of free or cheap lecture recordings available on iTunes. When browsing through the iTunes site it seemed that there were lectures on just about everything.  Another great resource to check when looking for information.

Come See Virginia Podcasts-  I had the pleasure of exploring some wonderful student examples of classroom activities.  These fourth graders created some tourist type podcasts as a class project advertising to people to Come Visit Virginia.  Along with the audio the students added visuals.  Not only are they great examples to see, but the idea could easily fit into many different classroom lesson plans and work for a great range of ages and subjects.

Lastly, the task to find another favorite off the list made me think about video-casting, so of course, where do you suppose I went?  Why Google's Billion Dollar baby... YouTube.

YouTube- As popular as YouTube is, you might overlook it as a video-casting site, but that's the entire foundation of what YouTube is about.  Video-casting allows users to create, edit and publish their videos and YouTube is the publishing site. I don't know about you, but I've looked at all kinds of things on YouTube, from flash dances, to old TV shows, to history lessons, to kids science experiments.  It's such a go-to place for information that my Five year old actually requests that we look a video up on YouTube when I don't know the answer to his question.  Our latest exploration, when my son repeatedly asked how you make bouncy balls, he was frustrated with my answer of "I don't really know".  So to quench his thirst for knowledge, we decided to go to YouTube and sure enough there were many options.  While I was hoping for an actual demonstration video of a bouncy ball factory, we found several science experiment demonstrations for making a bouncy ball at home.  We landed on this video of Dr. Cool.  As cheesy as this video-cast is, it's actually a rather informative demonstration on how to make one of these bouncy balls at home. I could imagine this site having endless possibilities in schools, but you have to get your site administrator to unlock it first. ;)

Enjoy!

Lesson Ideas for using Image Blogs

Lesson Title:
 Introducing Yourself

Type of Web 2.0 Tool: 
Image Blogs

Common Core Standards:


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

Brief Description of Overall Lesson:

Students will create a “Day in the Life” blog about themselves to introduce themselves to the class.

1.   Introduce concept by showing the students a teacher created Image blog introducing themselves.

2.     Students will plan out the pieces of their daily life that they feel are the most important parts to include.

3.     On their own time, students will collect digital images of their life.

4.     Using those images, students will upload images.  Those images should then be commented on and collected.

5.     Students will then share their image blogs with the class.

Lesson Title:
 Annotated Images

Type of Web 2.0 Tool: 
Flickr

Common Core Standards:


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.

Depending on the content of the lesson, these CCSS may apply:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.3 Identify key steps in a text’s description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6–8 texts and topics.

Brief Description of Overall Lesson:

Students will annotate an image to identify the notable pieces within the picture.

This lesson/activity could be used for numerous topics/concepts. Depending on the subject and activity requirements students may either find and edit their own image, or they be assigned a photo based on the needs of the lesson.

This activity could be done for science by identifying a process on an image, or animals/plants in a photo.

History could use images such as maps or large aerial images that students could annotate.

Any other topic that can use a photo or image to show various images that students could identify and annotate could be used. 

Students will then share these annotated photos to the class and verbally explain the process to the class. 

Image Blogs in your classroom

Ever heard of Image sharing sites such as Flickr?  These are great sites that allow users to share, explore and interact with images.  Now take those images, put them together and "narrate" them and you have image blogs.

My next task in this Web 2.0 exploration was to explore image blogs, and through this task I was able to explore some amazing images.

I'd have to say, first off, that hands down, the #1 benefit that comes to mind is bringing viewers to places they may not normally be able to visit.

For example, say your class is exploring China, jump over to this FlickrBlog site, and you can view some amazing scenes that would be inaccessible for most students.

Or, you could explore some intense images about the Holocost at this Fliction tagged page

A great example of using the annotation feature on Flickr can be seen on this image.  This student created a great diorama of Jane Goodall's camp, but then used the annotation feature of Flickr to identify the different features on the image.

The next example of an image blog would be perfect for a science lesson.  This collection of images allows for so many possibilities to explore in a lesson.

One key to Flickr is to allow users to tag photos and join groups (and submit photos).  One such group is a collection of photos with Red in them.  Looking at these images makes me think about writing prompts and maybe some discussions on contrasting images and the power of color.

While exploring the different image blogs on the Flickr Blog site brought me to so many amazing images.  One in particular that I enjoyed was a short tip to Bumble Bee Arizona.

Another collection of amazing images was Urban exploration photos.

As I think about using this in the classroom many ideas come to mind.  I could see classrooms exploring the images to get unique views of new places.  I could see teachers identifying images for writing prompts. I could also see students creating an image blog to create a photo narrative.  Student could create a "day in the life" type blog that would give visuals to their lives.

So many great opportunities lie ahead for students to learn, share and collaborate.

Identifying and Defining Unfamiliar Vocabulary

Lesson Title: Vocabulary Activity while reading a novel. 

Common Core Standard:


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words or phrases based on grade 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.


Type of Web 2.0 Tool: Wikis

Brief Description of Overall Lesson:

While Reading a book, students will use a wiki to collect unfamiliar vocabulary words.  

Create a wiki and allow all students to be editors. 

When reading, ask students to identify words that are unfamiliar to them on the wiki.  Then are then asked to find the meaning of that word and define it.  Also ask students to either cite or link their word and definition to the source that they found their information from.  That not only encourages responsible online citing but it also allows other students who are also unfamiliar with those words to further explore the word past just the definition. 

You could have this free an unstructured activity that occurs during the reading tasks, or this could be a more structured classroom activity that is set aside during the lesson.  You may assign students a number of words to find throughout the novel.  

If you'd prefer this to a be a more structured classroom activity, I would suggest this idea: 

At the point of the lesson that you would like students to do this, ask students to identify a word that they have found that they would like to define.  Go through the classroom sharing words to make sure that there aren't duplicates. Once each student has identified at least one word (more if you'd like), they can then use classroom time to research, define and link their word in the wiki. 

Ask students to continuously add to the wiki and refer to it when reading if they are unfamiliar with words. 

Using Wikis for Collaborative Brainstorming

Lesson Title: Creating a Collaborative Brainstorm/Idea Chart


Type of Web 2.0 Tool: Wiki


Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.

Brief Description of Overall Lesson:

To introduce a topic (for example- Middle School Discussing The Civil War Prior to reading Historical Fiction novel), begin by creating a Wiki for that topic. 

To encourage classroom participation and allow students to be more active users in sharing ideas, allow and encourage students to add ideas to the wiki (which would hopefully be shared on a smart board or projected so that the entire thing was visible to the entire classroom).  

Encourage students to write and discuss their ideas as they add them.  Allow for a conversation to occur while students add information.  Ask students to explain ideas and why it relates to your topic. 

Encourage 100% participation. 

Searching out Different Educational Blogs

Well, believe it or not, but finding Wikis to explore was more challenging than I expected it.  Unlike the world of blogs, Wikis are not quite as popular as an information sharing tool.  I mean, I can understand why blogs might be more popular.  If you put down information, you want it to stay as your information, and not have other random people altering your content.

But a good place to start for education sites is the Edublogs Award winners site and other respected technology bloggers (such as Technie4Teachers).

One in particular that really caught my eye and intrigued me is Educational Origami. This site is dedicated to 21st Century Teaching and Learning, and Oh my goodness, there is SOOOO much on this site. Anywhere from Blooms Taxonomy, Learning styles to Web 2.0 tools.  There's information, suggestions, pdfs and just so many things to explore. You can get information on using Wikis, blogs, social media, RSS feeds, and Google Tools.

Another great jumping point for finding other Educational Wikis for you is Techie 4 Teachers site. This site has 7 different suggestions for different educational site that have wikis for you to explore.

Happy Reading!

The Wobbly World of Wiki's

The next task this course has given me is to explore Wikis.  For such a simple tool, these little things have created a pretty significant amount of push back since their creation.  Do I dare say that the ever popular Wikipedia site is part of the cause of this?

In my exploration of wikis I've learned some things, and here's my thoughts.

Wikis are actually a rather simple concept.  Wikis are a space online that allows for collaborators to work together simultaneously on a task (most often writing of some sort).  I've you've ever worked on a Google Doc with others then you've worked on a wiki (a private one).  Now the trouble wikis have had is the collaborators part.  A wiki can be public or private.  A public wiki means that anyone, and I mean ANYONE (even those trolls that live their evils lives online), can edit or delete the content. This is the piece that lead to the initial "Don't cite wikipedia" hysteria because any Joe Schmoe could jump on any site and change anything. Now wikipedia and other sites have created many different levels of protections to inhibit, prevent or drastically slow down these types of acts, but I'll talk more about that later.

A Wiki can also be created as a private wiki.  This is the type of Wiki that I think has the most educational benefits in a classroom.  As the creator of this type of Wiki can can invite or approve of the only users.  You can create it as a public read-only and private edited, or simply a private only (read and edit). The benefits of these kinds of wikis are endless.  Any type of task that asks your students to work together on something writing based can be done on a wiki.  As a teacher there are many free options for wiki hosting sites (such as wikispaces) or even many online classroom systems (Blackboard for example) has options for creating a wiki within that site. As far as wiki classroom use in student collaboration goes- I'm sold, but research is another story.

The most interesting thing about this wikipedia research is the varying information regarding the accuracy of wikipedia. I come from the school of "Don't cite wikipedia", but sure enough where do I go the first time I need to know something quickly about a topic... Wikipedia. Why is it that Wikipedia is accurate enough to satisfy my need and acceptance of this new knowledge, but it is not accurate enough to cite?

Well, simply put what you write MUST be as undoubtedly accurate as possible.  With the entire premise of Wikipedia being user created and updated, then that adds the potential for doubt.  So yes, while Wikipedia has an EXTENSIVE accuracy dispute process, there is still the chance that the exact moment that someone posts inaccurate information about the topic you are researching could be the same time you are accessing it. Slim chance, but chance none the less.

So I am torn, I don't really know what my entire opinion is on using Wikipedia (or wikis in general) for knowledge research. The majority of the articles that I've read through this course and online are all rather outdated (2005/2007), so while that doesn't seem like too long ago, that's 6-8 years in the world of online tools, which makes it nearly archaic. I've heard mumblings that wikipedia is slowly becoming a more respected research outlet, but I'm sure that it will never reach peer-edited journal reviewed information.

Wiki's in Student classroom use: Two Thumbs Up!  Give it a try.
Wiki's for general knowledge (aka Wikipedia): Absolutely, but always take the information with a grain of salt.  Double check from another source if something smells fishy.
Wiki's for Research:  Ahhhh, not there yet.  Sure take a look, maybe use it to get a broad idea of what you're looking into, but use more respected resources to double check and cite from.

Blogging along the Way

Lesson Title: Blogging along the Way- using Blogs to reflect on a field trip experience. 

Type of Web 2.0 Tool: Blogs & Fliker (or other photo uploading sites) 


Common Core Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

Brief Description of Overall Lesson:

Prior to this lesson, students will have just gone on a field trip.  During the field trip students were encouraged to collect "artifacts" of their visit (such as photos, videos, recordings, and tangible mementos of the place that they visited). 

During the lesson: 

Begin the lesson by doing a quick write: 

"What is your favorite part of our recent field trip?" (Encourage students to write about the educational aspects of their field trip and not just Lunch) ;) 

Begin by opening up a discussion to remember and reflect on the different parts of their experiences.  Ask students to share some of the mementos that they collected and what they show or mean.

Students will then be instructed that they will be creating a blog post about their favorite/most memorable/most educational/etc (whatever you want them to focus on) from the field trip. The students will be expected to incorporate their mementos into their blogs by posting the relevent pics, videos, etc that they've collected.  Remind the students that the items they add to their post should be explained to their audience. 

Once their posts are added to the classroom blog encourage the students to browse through their classmates' posts and add comments* 

*Good opportunity for a discussion regarding positive online commenting etiquette.  It is also good to encourage students to write more then just fluffy encouraging statements such as "Great Job", "that's Cool", etc. 

Using Blogs to Discuss The Giver

Lesson Title: Using Blogs to Discuss the Giver

Type of Web 2.0 Tool: Blogs

Common Core Standards: Depending on your choice of assessments, CCS's could include: 

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.4 Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.

Brief Description of Overall Lesson:

Upon completion of reading The Giver, students will be asked to respond to several writing prompts posted on the classroom Blog. 

To practice quality writing and proof-reading, it would be best to have student write their post on word and edit it before posting it to the blog. 

Once the students have made their posts, the students will be asked to make several (# determined by you) other students' posts.  Remind students that this is an open forum and that their words and language must remain appropriate and encourage a positive discussion. 

Writing Prompt Options: 

During the Ceremony of Twelve, the Chief Elder told the children, “You Elevens have spent all your years till now learning to fit in, to standardize your behavior, to curb any impulse that might set you apart from the group.” However, the Ceremony of Twelve is unusual because it was a time that individual differences were important & recognized.

What traits do you have that are the same with a character in the book? Write an essay explaining how you are similar to a character in The Giver. Use evidence from the book to back up your ideas. You should have at least three pieces of evidence to support your opinion.

Several different types of governments are listed below. Write an essay explaining what type of government you think Jonas’ community had. Use evidence from the text to support your opinion.

v Anarchy: no laws & everyone has complete freedom of personal choice

v Democracy: the people make their own laws & are allowed many choices

v Monarchy: the king/queen has most control & people have less say in forming laws & fewer choices

v Communism/Totalitarianism: the strong central government is highly regimented & the people have no control of laws & have very few choices, if any.

While reading The Giver, you may have come across a sentence, or sentences, that were memorable. Pick a quote from the text you feel is significant (your teacher must approve the quote before you begin your essay). What does the quote mean? Explain the quote’s importance. Why is the quote memorable? Use evidence from the novel to support your explanation.

Evaluation/Assessment: 

Teachers have many options on the evaluation of this task. 

Students may be evaluated on:

• 5 Traits of Writing
• Clarity and cohesiveness of their answer
• Responses to other students
• Using quotes and references to the book to back-up their answer
• Or any other standard or you are focusing on. 

Responding to Blogs (for Module 1)

Below you will find my review of the sites given as an assignment for Module 1. Several of the blogs are no longer active, so you will find some personal suggestions listed below. 

http://willrichardson.com

In 2011 Will Richardson decided to move over from his blog to a website listed above.  His new site is a great place for conversations. He did leave his old site up, along with his extensive data base of bloggers.  One downside is that since this list hasn’t been maintained many of the bloggers are either no longer linked corrected, or are no longer blogging.  I found on Will’s current site that he has a more untraditional blogging system by including what seems to be many guest bloggers.  I do appreciate their thoughts and allow for a more diverse collection of opinions, but don’t assume that everything on his site is from him.  Many of the article are politically motivated, but in a time when there’s a lot of “heat” going through education regarding different policies and such, I can’t really be surprised that those political messages are woven throughout the writing.

David Warlick

David Warlick is an avid and frequent blogger.  His site is up to date with many recent posts. He seems to have more posts about big picture/political ideas, but again, I can’t be too surprised with the current state of education.  This is a site that I could easily get lost in reading his musings.  One piece that somewhat frustrated me is that I could find much of anything about him.  I find the author’s background important to understand their true perspective. 

Hambrick’s- This site hasn’t been updated since 2007 with the birth of his son. I did not bother reading much further in as the content is 6 years old now and rather out of date for my purposes.

Rosenfeld- Emmet Rosenfeld’s last post was in 2009 when he was discussing why he would no longer be blogging for Eduholic.  His new position as an administrator had essentially removed him from “the trenches” and his writing had moved away from the teacher centered musings. I read through many of his last posts and I had to agree with his editor that his writings were lacking much appeal to teachers looking for ways to incorporate technology into their curriculum.

McNeil- Blog no longer there

Richard Byrne Free Tech for Teachers http://www.freetech4teachers.com

Wow- what a wonderful site.  It is just packed with so many great ideas and suggestions for technology in the classroom.  The author, Richard has so many different posts about iPad apps, YouTube, Google Tutorials, Android phones in the classroom and so much more.  I could very easily get lost going through these different ideas.  I did go and Pin many of them to later explore.

Another interesting blog is Mindshift at: http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/about/

Instead of this being one person’s experiences, it appears to be run by an editor with postings being equally spread across Mindshift writers and other contributors.  It is current and diverse in education topics.  The topics run from Games and learning, to big picture ideas, to teaching strategies, to kids and media. Since this site uses various authors, you get different writing styles and opinions on the topics presented.

While scanning the 2012 Edublog winners, I found EduTech4Teachers . http://edutech4teachers.edublogs.org

This blog was the winner of the new Blog category and I can tell why.  The author of this blog has an extensive amount of information about being a 21^st century teacher and emphasizes being a connected teacher.  She’s included many videos, visuals and discussions on using these tools in classrooms.