Thought I would start my Winter Break with a tour of the 2009 Edublog Awards. At first glance, it looks a bit like a “round up of the usual suspects,” with awards going to many folks I’ve been following for sometime – and whose contributions to the edublogosphere continue to inform and inspire my teaching practice and toolkit.
But thanks to the awards, I’ve added three new blogs to my Google Reader:
- Happy Rainbow – Mr. Halpern’s byline of “Journey of a Male Kindergarten Teacher” kind of says it all. I’m glad to have to this window into the kindergarten world (pretty much an unknown territory for me).
- Billings Beta – In so many school districts, those school-to-home connections start to get a little fuzzy at the middle school level. I doubt if this is the case at Billings Middle School, with Jac de Haan, the school’s Technology Integration Coordinator, posting about relevant topics, such as Facebook updates and digital identities.
- Ms. Yollis’s Classroom Blog – I really value having tips from primary teachers on how post comments to a blog. Visuals such as the chart below help make the art of digital composing visible – and help move students beyond “me too” and “that’s cool” kinds of comments:
http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-comment-on-our-blog.html
Congratulations to all the 2009 Edublog Award winners!
December 27, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Dear Gail,
Thank you for mentioning my blog in your post and for including our comment visual! 🙂
I thoroughly enjoy the process of blogging with my third graders and they love it, too. As you mentioned, trying to get students to leave meaningful comments is a real challenge. Teaching directed lessons really helps move them beyond the…This is cool!!!!!!!!!! type message.
Thanks again for your support!
Linda Yollis
California
December 28, 2009 at 11:19 am
You are very welcome, Linda. Besides sharing your comment visual with other teachers, I’ll also be sharing your your How to Comment post and encouraging students to aim for “2-Pointers”!