Tag Archives: favourite

blogging, Education

Pass the blog (quickly,it’s hot!)

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As much as I enjoy writing blogs, I love reading them. There’s nothing more exciting than discovering a new blog – a new voice, source of ideas and information.

Just today I noticed that Bright Ideas Blog – a blog many of us have at the top of their reading list – has kindly included my blog in a list of blog nominations.  It’s a ‘pass the parcel’ kind of activity, at the end of which we all end up with an enormous list of new blogs to investigate. Wonderful!

I’ve found out from What Ed Said that ‘it’s part of an initiative called ‘Vale a pena ficar de olho nesse blog’, which means ‘It’s worth keeping an eye on this blog’. Great idea.

For those I am awarding below, here are a few rules to follow:

1- Copy and display the picture of the award given to you;

2- Link back to the blog that nominated you;

3- Nominate 10 different blogs yourself;

4- Inform the people you nominated, so they can in turn, continue the chain and spread the word about other great blogs out there.

My Google Reader is bursting at the seams and needs house-cleaning. I revise it fairly regularly  to keep it relevant to my needs. Over time, my reading focus changes.

Whereas I enjoyed educational blogs with a technology focus initially, now I read these less, since I discover new technologies in Twitter and Facebook.

Whereas I used to read The Great Bloggers, the big guys, I now also like to read the less well known bloggers who might have more time for face to face teaching and so share detailed experiences of what works and what doesn’t.

Whereas I used to read like-minded blogs, now I enjoy reading different voices to push my thinking.

Whereas I used to read education blogs only, blogs about the future of education, or blogs about my own subject areas, eg literature and languages,  now I’m discovering terrific science, maths, art, animation blogs.

I think the best thing about blogs is that they have a voice. Unlike professional, formal, peer-reviewed information, blogs reflect the author. Reading the blog means getting to know the person with the voice.

I had trouble selecting these blogs, keeping to the limit.  In no order whatsoever, and not all of these what you would call educational blogs:

Lisa Hill’s literature blog – ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

The Animation Blog

BibliOdyssey (Books, illustrations, science, history, visual materia obscura).

Art21 blog an amazing art resource for education

Urban Sketchers

Urban Sketchers is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location where they live and travel. We aim to show the world, one drawing at a time.

The Daring Librarian – Gwyneth Jones – Twitter bio: The Daring Librarian: Celt. Teacher Librarian & Technology Specialist. Redhead. Digital Collaborator. Victorian Steampunk. Second Lifer. Goofball.

Sean Nash at Nashworld Must always mention Sean Nash – nobody else like him

CMIS Fiction Focus I trust this blog to keep me up to date with books and reading for our young people

Steve Collis on HappySteve – Love this blog, fingers in many pies and fun to read.

New blogger – Nicholas Cowall: Music solo performance at Braemar (Nicholas has recently burst into the blogosphere with energy and passion; an example to all teachers. AND he has a schedule which is not for the faint-hearted, so he puts to shame those who claim not have time for blogging and the like.)


21st century learning, blogging

4 Rs meme: favourite posts

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I almost forgot to say this, so I’m editing postscript. Paul C. tagged me in a meme in his blog post. I have to admit that while some people find memes annoying, I love them, as long as they contain something worth reading. Memes are a great way to pool people, their views and resources. This one about favourite posts is like getting people to skim the cream of their thinking and writing. I hope you’ll enjoy mine and go on to read others, including Paul’s.

‘Meme rules:1. Scan your posts for your own personal favorites.
2. Choose one post in any/each of the four categories:

  • Rants
  • Resources
  • Reflections
  • Revelations

I leave it to you folks to define these terms, but my instinct is that we could treat these loosely. You are welcome to suggest new categories if these don’t fit.

3. In a blog post, list those posts and very briefly describe

  • why it was important,
  • why it had lasting value or impact,
  • how you would update it for today.

4. Select five (or so) other bloggers to tap with this meme.

5. Tag all of your post with #postsofthepast ‘

Rants – Don’t bag technology – ask what it means first –  I rave quite a lot. In fact, most of my posts are raves. In this post I express my frustration with the negativity with the wall you sometimes come face to face with when you talk to people about technology in education. The conclusion of this post centres on what I think is the transforming aspect of Web 2.0 tools, and that is the conversation and connection with a larger audience. As frustrating as it is to believe so much in what Web 2.0 platforms offer for engaged and connected learning and teaching, and to feel like Sisyphus pushing the massive boulder up the impossibly steep mountain, I have gained so much from my own connection with a personal learning network, and I intend to keep offering and suggesting, sharing and collaborating, even if that means moving small steps with few people. I live in hope.

Resources – Shift into overdrive – As I say in the post, Web 2.0 technologies have opened up new ways of opening up and creating new experiences for teachers. This post is a fairly comprehensive collection of Web 2.0 resources – not so much a collection of resources as a list of the amazing people who have created them.

Reflections – How have you changed as a writer because of online spaces? – It seems that my posts have a dominant theme: one of connections with people. I realised at the outset of the post that I have become a writer since starting a blog, and how much I missed writing since finishing secondary school. I’m convinced that having readers and commenters gives me a supportive, rich community to feed from and into.

Revelations – Teach the child – Sometimes the most powerful revelations are the ones which manifest themselves beyond words. This video of children singing moved me deeply and reminded me what is wonderful and sometimes hidden in each child. I like to come back to this video to remind myself that children are not just empty vessels to pour curriculum into.

I tag:

Steve Shann- Birds fly, fish swim; Susan Carter Morgan scmorgan ; Jennifer Clark Evans – My continuing education; Sean Nash – Nashworld; Marie Salinger – Just in time; Paul Stewart – Contemporary learning.