Blogging+in+Education

Use these blogs as a jumping on point but please don't think that this is an exhaustive list. IT'S NOT, nor will it ever be, but it is a place to start looking for some good and some great educational blogs. Explore, have fun and most of all add your own thoughts.

Resources
Interesting/Helpful/Thought provoking articles/posts/video


 * 1) [|what_is_blog.pdf]- What is a blog?
 * 2) [|RSS_ Start_Guide .pdf] To save time reading new posts on student blogs, class blog, or professional blogs you follow, it is worth understanding RSS. Great video from Common Craft here about RSS if you are more visual.
 * 3) [|Ways to Use Blogs in Education Post]- Anne Davis post about different uses for blogging in the classroom. Published in 2004 but still holds true. I think the only thing to add is the use of different media that has developed as tools become more prevalent and bandwidth gets better. Also, great post about Literature Circle s for you ELA teachers.
 * 4) [|New_Technologies_Help_ Build_Learning_Communities.pdf] Short article on the changing face of literacy and how technology is influencing student reading
 * 5) Digital Literacies & Emerging Educational Technologies - A Wiki by Alec Couros from Manitoba
 * 6) [|Teachers Wiki Walk-Thru] Interesting self-guided presentation about the similarities anddifference between wikis and blog.
 * 7) Edublogs - A blogging platform used by many teachers/schools because of privacy settings and ease of creating group blogs.
 * 8) [|Landmark Classroom Project] - Blogmeister site which is one of the many blogging platforms available
 * 9) Easy to use help setting up a blog on blogger
 * 10) Live Journal - One of the first blogging sites available to the public, still around and still kicking! Not a primary tool for educational uses, lends itself to outside of school usage.
 * 11) Two blogging platforms that need to be loaded to your district servers, but offer greater content control:
 * 12) Movable Type- Requires purchasing a license, but great for group blogs
 * 13) Word Press - Open source and free, also great for group blogs
 * 14) media type="youtube" key="BnploFsS_tY" height="385" width="480"

Edu-Blogging Leaders
These people have some great ideas and encourage/advocate the use of blogs in education:
 * 1) [|Will Richardson]- HIs 2 cents are always interesting to read.
 * 2) [|David Warlick]- One of the first proponents of digital literacy
 * 3) [|Bud Hunt]- An elementary teacher in Colorado, who is a master at making connections with students
 * 4) Kathy Schrock- Understands how to support technology use that is truly integrated and has an impact on learning
 * 5) [|Dean Shareski]- Great vision of 21st century education and the impact that technology can have
 * 6) __[|Free Technology for Teachers]__- A truly great blog by Richard Byrne for sharing the latest and greatest (and sometimes not so great) technology for teachers.
 * 7) [|Steve Dembo]
 * 8) [|Great Example] of Organizing RSS feeds on Bloglines
 * 9) [|Darren Kuropatwa]- Great mathematics teacher who now teaches at the University level in Canada!
 * 10) [|The Next Movement]- An analysis of how web 2.0 has been used and is being used in Darren's classroom
 * 11) [|Rip, Mix, Learn] - Even more organization and development of ideas around web 2.0 and the classroom
 * 12) [|A link to more links] by Darren Kuropatwa

Here is a beginning list of blog links. I encourage you to add your own comments and more importantly challenge you to add more links. Add links to classroom projects, teacher blogs, or any blogs that challenge conventional wisdom around literacy.

Administrator Blogs

 * 1) [] Chris Lehmann's blog about leading a 21st Century high school in downtown Philadelphia.
 * 2) [] Education Policy blog
 * 3) [] Transforming teaching, learning and leadership through the strategic application of technology has been Miguel Guhlin’s motto
 * 4) Education Innovation - Rob Jacobs Blog

Teacher Blogs

 * 1) Todd Seal - The guidelines you're beginning to establish give me ideas for my own procedures and practices.
 * 2) [|Tom Woodward] The Bionic Teacher- Lots of good stuff.
 * 3) [[|http://theopenclassroom.blogspot.com] Jo McLeay] - Teaching English and Using Technology to do it better.
 * 4)  Dave Cormier
 * 5) [[|http://www.4dmo.com] ] Demetri has a very developed web site and is teaching a grad class about eLearning... participants will blog.
 * 6) [[|http://whatdoyousay.wordpress.com] ] Lisa Chamberlin'a "for teachers" page explains more, but this is a little "action research" to see if blogging will increase student motivation with developmental English (below Eng 101 level) students at the community college level - if we build it, will they come? Hasn't been updated since October, 2006, which begs the question did they come?
 * 7) [] Clarence Fisher teaches full time and enjoys being involved with research to improve what we do in our classrooms. He is involved with efforts to redefine literacy and what it means to be literate in our twenty-first century, technologically advanced society.

Class/Project Blogs

 * 1) Edublogger Award Winners for 2009
 * 2) [|Eric Langhorst's Web Classroom] - Dated 2007 but one of the absolute best resources and embedded practice teachers I've come across. Here is his current blog.
 * 3) [] From 2006-07, but shows a complete use for a year.
 * 4) [] 2009 Edublogger Award Winner
 * 5) Mrs. Yollis' 3rd Grade Class Blog- I love how Mrs. Yollis uses lots of different media in her class blog. Some are student created, some are teacher created, some are resources from the net, and a lot are connections to the community (bot family and area).
 * 6) Mrs. Bakers Extreme Biology Class - Another great example of providing lots of different outlets/inlets for information within one class "blog". I really like the Cladogram Lab post, great example of taking a no-tech learning activity and using technology to share the results and increase the conversation.
 * 7) [] Intermediate English Blog
 * 8) [|http://www.theyearofthehangman.blogspot.com] The Year of the Hangman Book Blog. Eric created this site for his latest book study.
 * 9) http://guerrillaseason.blogspot.com/ Yet another wonderful book study by Eric Langhorst's from 2008
 * 10) [|Mr. Brune's 5th Grade Class at Mamaroneck Avenue School in Mamaroneck, NY] Another way of using blogging and commenting to blogs to write in the classroom and create an authentic audience. From 2005
 * 11) [] Note that Mr. Williams has a very integrated approach, including a blog, moodle, and the use of multimedia. He and I are collaborating on creating some instructional videos using [|Jing Project].
 * 12) [] Mr. Crosby's class blog and it is linked to his class' wiki too.
 * 13) Rashmi Kathuria's Math Class blog from Dehli, India - Get a taste of some of the things being done around the world with classroom blogs.
 * 14) Intermediate English Blog - A teacher using a blog for a variety of reasons; primarily for sharing resources, but also for sharing student products and for creating products in unique ways. Look for the wallwisher assignments that students did to share the different "picture data sets" of San Francisco
 * 15) Great Student Blog

New Bloggers Who May Need Some Encouragement
Visit their sites and leave a helpful comment. It is all about creating a vibrant learning community and exploring how these resources can bring value to the classroom.