BP3_2010041_Google Reader

1. http://hickstro.org/
I subscribed to Digital Writing, Digital Teaching: Integrating New Literacies into the Teaching of Writing, which is a Wordpress blog written by Troy Hicks, a professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan. His CV, updated last December, states his objective: “To engage in and study the teaching and learning writing—especially in digital environments—focusing on pre-service teacher education and professional development for in-service teachers” (Hicks, 2009, p. 1). As a teacher in this Master’s program, I am already benefiting from my new friend’s blog posts. His skills and interests that he shares can serve as a valuable reference for me professionally as a student and as a teacher developing her skills in education via technology.

2. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
I love reading this blog! The author does an amazing job with identifying those gems on the internet on sites like TED. Richard Byrne is a teacher. He takes the time to carefully select those articles, videos, websites, etc. that would be most useful to his 19,000+ readers, mostly educators. It saves me time searching for information about technology in education. Although I also subscribed to TED.com I am much more likely to read the updates on this particular blog than spend time searching for videos on TED. His blog is organized well and has links to resources for teachers of all subjects and grade levels.

3. http://instructify.com/
Instructify is another blog that captured my attention. One of the recent posts discusses Web 2.0 tools and brain-based learning strategies. Those are two topics that are quite related to one another and both are heavily discussed in this Master’s program. Like Richard Byrne’s posts, the authors—there are various— of this blog offer great information and links that revolve around making teacher better and improving the overall educational system. The Instructify philosophy is “teach smarter, not harder.”

4. http://carlanderson.blogspot.com/
Carl Anderson, the author of this blog, is an educator and a curriculum and technology specialist. Although he has only a few followers, his posts offer information on free technology tools and he gives weekly tech tips. He also provides title and links to videos such as Confessions of a Converted Lecturer: Eric Mazur. Carl gives short commentaries beside some of the links, which is how this particular video about the converted lecturer caught my eye.

5. http://ilearntechnology.com/
The title of this blog is: “iLearn Technology: An Edublog About Integrating Technology into the Classroom.” That explains it. I do not need to add much more. The primary reason I subscribed to this blog was because of a post I found by clicking on the tag, “Europe.” It led me to an explanation of edu2.0, which in essence creates a virtual classroom. Also Tech Crunch downloads YouTube videos onto your computer so that you can view them in class (this is especially useful if you know in advance that internet will not be available or if YouTube is a blocked site at your workplace, like mine). I was hooked by the discussion of Web 2.0 tools that actually sound simple and useful for the classroom.

BP2_2010041_Educational Uses for Blogs

Blogs can be excellent tools for students to share ideas, learn, and discover alongside one another in a meaningful, engaging way. There are a couple of ways I envision the use of blogs. One is a collective classroom blog in which students and the teacher can create posts on the current content topic and have an ongoing discussion that goes beyond superficial learning from a textbook. The students become invested in creating something unique and having a voice. The other way I see blogs being useful is each student creating their own educational blog, similar to what we're doing in this ETC course, and students can read & comment on other students' blogs. I can grade blog entries as assessments and I can leave comments. In both cases the students are at the center of discovering and they are responsible for their learning. I think it's a great way for students and teachers to remain connected.



As I explored some uses for blogs among educators I came across several great perspectives and creative ideas for using blogs. A science teacher in response to another educator's blog post pointed out that using blogs is very helpful with general classroom management (Devji, http://thanhnguyen75.blogspot.com/2006/11/use-of-blogs-in-education_14.html). The original blogger highlights a list of reasons to use blogs including increasing motivation for students and allowing them to increase their reading and writing skills (Nguyen, http://thanhnguyen75.blogspot.com/2006/11/use-of-blogs-in-education_14.html). Some other fantastic reasons for using blogs in education are allowing students to express themselves and reflect on the days lesson or activity (Dell, http://www.slideshare.net/sqoolmaster/educational-uses-of-blogs-and-tags-234136). I particularly see the need for reflection. Too often students in a public classroom setting are treated like factory workers - get them in and out as efficiently as possible, filling them with knowledge. Students don't get a chance in class to stop and think and reflect on what just happened or what the teachers and students may have said. One of the greatest possibilities also mentioned in this slide show is communication with classrooms around the world (Dell). I want nothing more than for my students to learn from students in another country. If I can't take my students to another country then at least I can introduce them to other cultures. They need to know that even though there are people their age that have different life experiences, they can still relate to them. Students need to be introduced to other cultures that their minds may be opened and their world views may be more global.