I really loved checking out these Edubloggers that people have been talking about. I will admit, while the term "Edubloggers" is pretty self-explanatory, at the same I didn't really know what to expect from them. What I found from browsing through Kristin and Jeff's list of favorites, was an incredibly vast/endless amount of information that relates to the field of education. Honestly, it was amazing. It just seems like little by little my eyes are being opened to soooo many resources. I know that no matter how much I read, and study these resources, my first year of teaching is going to be somewhat terrifying. However it is awesome to know that there are so many places out there (in technology) that are there to help us and give us ideas!
The first Edublogger's that I absolutely loved was the book blog called "Bookends." It is the first one on Kristin's list of favorite! In this blog, two middle school librarians, Cindy and Lynn, discuss a books aimed for children and young adults. Every post talks about a different book, whether it is a picture book, a collection of ghost stories, or a novel. As an English teacher, this website was wonderful for me. I scrolled through a couple of pages of the critique's and loved it because I found the two librarians to be believable, right off the bat. I trusted their opinions, fairly early on in my blog exploring. I am not sure why exactly this is, the posts just had a very honest feel. In some cases, Cindy really loved the book, but then Lynn would point out what is good about it but also mention that it "read a little slow for her." Maybe this is what made it seem so honest. Also their reviews discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each book in terms of literary devices and methods. For example, the ladies would state things like "This is a good book, if you are looking for something with a lot of dialogue." As an English teacher picking a text for my students to read, I could turn to this website for some honest advice on which book I could choose. Maybe I am working on teaching them how to use dialogue in their writing, and so I could have them read (or offer for them to read in their free time) the one called Greyhound of a Girl which includes a lot of dialogue. While I am not sure how much leeway I will have in choosing my literature (I assume not a lot) I want to make sure I am picking the coolest, and best books out there for my class to read in hopes that it will help with the motivation of reading in my classroom.
Another Edublogger that I really enjoyed was a blog called "Digital Media & Learning" by Ewan McIntosh which I also found under Kristin's list of favorite blogs. This guy was pretty cool, right off the bat I loved that he really knew what he was talking about. And didn't elaborate extensively at the same time. The blog alternated between video posts, text, images, twitter surveys. All kinds of things. Obviously this appeals to me, because variety is always nice. I liked the different ways that he conveyed information and the fact that he always mixed it up. And the topics of his posts varied too which was awesome. Even from just scrolling the first page I read a post about school lunches/Jamie Oliver, one about Google, one about music and learning that talked about Will. I. Am. too. All kinds of interesting things. I liked this blog in a different way that I liked the book guide blog. It is more of something I would follow regularly and read here and there, just to keep up on stories out there that talk about education today and media and what is going on in the world. It is not as much of a reference tool like the first blog I talked about was, but still a great way to stay informed on the most recent stories involving media and education. Also, I am going to be following Ewan McIntosh on Twitter for sure.
Fabulous choices! Maybe you like the Bookends blog because you like things that are made in Michigan! (They live on the west side of the state.) I love following book review blogs because even if I can't read everything myself, I can get an ambient sense of what is new and hot. And those ladies have been on every national book award committee imaginable -- they know their stuff!
ReplyDeleteDid you catch Mcintosh's "Googleable or not Googleable" post? I loved that!
Oh, that is awesome that they are from Michigan! Very cool, I must not have caught that!
ReplyDeleteAlso yes I did see the Googleable or not Googleable post. I thought that was pretty cool too :) He is so creative, I loved reading the posts.
I just checked out Ewan Mcintosh's blog after your favorable review. I must admit, I'm starting to get pretty excited about all of these amazing resources in the edublogging community. I see that you guys already hit on it bit I really want to reaffirm how cool I thought thought the "googleable" or "not googleable" post was. Kids love little catch phrases like this, and something like this will stick. Simply reminding them that we want to have our discussion focus on things that are not googleable will often guide us to HOTness (Higher Order Thinking).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review.
Unfortunately, I had to leave class early last Friday and missed out on discussing this in class. I think sharing of material between teacher is essential to improving lessons and blogs offer a very easy medium of exchange. I am somewhat amazed at the amount of traffic my blog and other people in the class are experiencing. These seems to be an interest in my blog from some people in Russia and Germany, which is bizzarre, and Lauren has been cited by some French blogger. It is a very large community, but one that is easily accessible. I'm just not sure how to avoid being overwhelmed or how to check if a blog is accurate.
ReplyDeleteI also read Ewan McIntosh's blog. I really found his video about Dawdlers and Doers to be super inspirational. What were your thoughts on what you would do the during the first 5 days?
ReplyDeleteI also found it OUTRAGEOUS that the school system would want this little girl to stop her blog. I really feel that schools should want their students to have healthy life styles, regardless of the reputation that it gives to the schools. If anything, I think the schools would want to improve based on what the students are feeling, i.e. make better lunches, rather that shut down the child's personal expression.
Nice blog :)
Abby,
ReplyDeleteThank you for recommending the Bookends blog. I think blogs that review young adult literature are really important, not just for choosing texts for the classroom, but also for making recommendations to students. Great catch.
Also, if you like the variety that Ewan's blog gives, I might also suggest huffenglish.com which talks about a wide range of technology and provides a vast amount of sources and links to other educators, articles, etc. I really think you might like it.