Blogs+as+Resources

= = “Educators can learn about new technology tools for the classroom, classroom experiences with technology, and what I hope are valuable tech tips,” explained blogger Chris Hyde about his site. He also identified the re-occurring themes on his blog as the “sharing of technology, tools, tips, and experiences for the classroom with an occasional personal view of technology in education.” Hyde is a technology integrator for a school district in Pennsylvania __ Technology Resources for Educators __

** The links provided below have been analyzed by graduate students of Walden University using the following criteria: **

 * 1. The blog is helpful in advising teachers with integrating technology in the classroom. **
 * 2. The blog contains well developed and thought provoking entries. **
 * 3. The blog integrates examples with explanations or analysis. **
 * 4. The blog is relevant, accurate, and up to date with new technologies. **
 * 5. The blog is visually appealing and easy to navigate. **

__**﻿Elementary Resources**__


 * [|Edutopia - Mary Beth Hertz]

This blog comes from Edutopia, which is a wonderful resource for educators. Edutopia is a site that includes numerous blogs by topic, grade level strategies, videos, and so much more. Mary Beth Hertz is an elementary technology teacher at a charter school in Philadelphia, Pa. She has been a technology integration teacher for about seven years. Posting once or twice per month, her postings include information about her own best practices, along with helpful tips for other educators about how to effectively integrate technology into a classroom. As an elementary educator myself, I have found her postings to be incredibly insightful.

-Stacy Constantine

Matthew Needleman created this blog to provide helpful tips for elementary teachers on general teaching, as well as including technology in a classroom setting, with a focus on video production. Needleman is a K-5 teacher, literacy coach, and Apple Distinguished Educator in California. He has been teaching for over ten years. His expertise on the subject of technology is incredibly beneficial.
 * [|Creating Lifelong Learners]

-Stacy Constantine

= [|The First Grade Parade] = = = ==== Mrs. Carroll has created a fabulous blog for not just first grade teachers, but also for primary teachers. She posts various activities, games, lesson plans, classroom ideas, etc. She was nominated for the "2011 Really Good Classroom Blog" Contest. She has also created really cute activities and games with cute fonts that are available to purchase or print. I use her blog on a regular basis in my own classroom. ====

= [|First Grade Teachers] = == ==== ﻿Kristen is a first grade teacher and has created a good blog with ideas and teacher resources. This blog is similar to The First Grade Parade, but rates a 3 out of 5 compared to First Grade Parade. This blog was also nominated for the "2011 Really Good Classroom Blog" Contest. Kristen includes various activities, games, lesson plans, classroom ideas, etc. ====

= [|Clutter-Free Classroom] = = = ==== An unknown teacher has created a great blog for effective management and organizational tips. Her ideas save teachers time and money.Her blog includes products for purchase, organization tips, management ideas, classroom themes, creative lessons, bulletin boards and decor, and more! I use this blog for ideas on a regular basis. ====

-Lindzey O'Brien
= = [|Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog]  This blog was created by Kathy Cassidy of Canada, and this is actually her class’ blog. Her creativeness is astounding. Her students are six years old, and each of the students has their own link which holds samples of work they have done, complete with photos and videos of activities that they complete in her classroom. The main page of her blog offers many wonderful activities and creative uses of a blog, including Skype-ing to a classroom in New Hampshire. The website is very organized and user-friendly, and hold many innovative ways to incorporate technology into any classroom. -Tricia Cancian

English
A Year of Reading is written by "Two Teachers Who Read A Lot." Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn are the co-writers of this blog and both elementary teachers for about twenty years in Dublin Ohio. They began this blog because they both enjoyed reading and reviewing books. This blog, updated at least four to five days per week, reviews childrens' books and young adult literature. I have found it incredibly useful in choosing new books for my own classroom. Along with their blog, Sibberson and Hahn include a plethora of web resources for educators. Although there is a lack of focus on technology, it is a wonderful resource for reading!
 * [|A Year of Reading]

Stacy Constantine

__**﻿Middle School Resources**__

__**High School Resources**__

Math
== == ==== Kate Nowak﻿﻿ is a 6 th grade math teacher in Syracuse, NY. She has been teaching for six years. Her posts include sharing best practices for student learning and for engaging students in the classroom. Her posts are thought provoking commentaries which include appropriate and relevant images and where applicable you-tube videos. Anyone following this blog will find posts reflecting on lessons, grading practices, integrating technology including the use of dynamic software, as well as games, and projects. Her sidebar includes links to blogs she follows, an archive of posts organized by labels. She has also included a tab at the top of the home page labeled Best of f(t) linking the reader to her best posts. Kate has even organized her best of posts ﻿by topics; How to teach it, Math related, Practice structures and review games. I have found this blog to be very informative, well organized, and relevant to current issues. ====
 * === f(t) - function of time blog ===

-Joanne C.

 * === Edutopia - Assessing the Common Core Standards: Real Life Mathematics﻿ ===

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==== Edutopia has a collection of blogs organized by topic. This blog post was written by Andrew Miller a consultant for the Buck Institute for Education. A number of educators responded to this post creating a lot of good information available to all who visit this blog post. Edutopia has a great number of resouces including at least 17 blogs. Edutopia's blogs are excellent blogs to follow they will keep the reader up to date with educational issues. ====

[|Hooda Math]  This blog offers many interactive math games, tutorials, downloadable worksheets and videos relating to pre-algebra, algebra and geometry concepts and topics. The many tutorials are very informative, and are very easy to follow along. The games are great ways for students to practice and review material learned in class, and this blog consists of plenty to be played on a student’s individual computer. The blog’s creator, Michael Edlavitch, also added interactive white board games to be played as a class. This blog also has sections of links designated for students to use who visit the blog, as well as teachers. The information was very relevant and easy to navigate. -Tricia Cancian

[|Real teaching means real learning]
 David Martin is a high school math teacher in Red Deer, Alberta. His blog has a couple different components, but is intended to enhance the learning environment. One area available to readers is his open-ended questions (sometimes with solutions). There are several questions to choose from. Students can post their solutions to these problems, or the teachers can assign students to work out various problems. The part of his blog that I am really interested in is his use of Facebook in the classroom. I have heard of using it in class, but David discusses how he could use it. One of the responses indicates using NING, instead of Facebook due to students not wanting to use their Facebook account with many of their risqué pictures. I have also heard of Edmodo as an additional social networking sight. This could be used instead of giving homework, or as a forum for students to ask questions about their homework. -Tim Trotta

Science
The Art of Teaching Science

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A website devoted to teaching science. In the author's own words, "Inquiry and Innovation in Science Teaching by Jack Hassard." Although Hassard claims to write about science teaching, this blog really is just a hodge podge of education-related resources. The reviewer had to look through ten pages of material to find two articles that had anything to do with the art of teaching science. The blog is standard and user-friendly and narrowing a search to topics is as easy as clicking a pull-down menu. That being said, the subjects listed are all over the place. There were very few science teaching options. 1. The blog is relevant, accurate, and up to date with new technologies. 2. The blog is visually appealing and easy to navigate. -Vernon Camp

Science Teacher

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The user who goes by the name Doyle writes an informative blog that does what it says. Unlike the previous blog, Doyle leaves out all of the fillers and focuses his posts on science teaching alone. Although not as visually appealling or as user-friendly, Doyle makes up for in content what he lacks in artistic skill. His posts cover a range of science topics, how to teach them within the classroom, and obstacles science teachers face. 1. The blog is helpful in advising teachers with integrating technology in the classroom. 2. The blog contains well developed and thought provoking entries. 3. The blog integrates examples with explanations or analysis. 4. The blog is relevant, accurate, and up to date with new technologies.

[|Physics!Blog!]
This blog is from Kelly O’Shea, a high school physics teacher of a boarding school in Delaware. She uses modeling instruction and uses alternative methods of learning, including assigning no homework. She requires students to make mistakes as it is part of the learning process. On this page, she includes several posts about objectives, processes, and exam reviews. This blog, while not incorporating technology into the classroom, leads readers to new ideas. This alternative way of thinking is what is needed to incorporate technology into the classroom so we do not get stuck doing the same old things over and over again. There is one whole post to describe how she no longer assigns homework and how it helps students learn. -Tim Trotta

[|Physics: Video Capture and Posting using Jing]
Andrew Wanden Heuvel teaches AP physics at a virtual school in Michigan. In his blog, he discusses a program called Jing, which allows students to make video capture screens. This could be used extensively in lab settings as students could then measure various distances and times of a moving object. There is another program called CamStudio which is more advanced, but requires a file conversion. It is more of an informative blog to help beginner users learn how to use this device. He includes videos of how to use Jing. - Tim Trotta

**Social Studies**

Physical Education
[|Physical Education Update Blog]

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== This blog is edited by P.E. Teacher Dick Moss who regularly updates the website with a number of interesting tidbits in the world of Physical Education. He does a nice job connecting it to mainstream concepts while at the same time exploring the boundries of the content area. There are a number of quick videos includes amongst his blogs to add a visual to the message he is trying to convey. Also embeded are a number of links for more information on the topics being discussed. I picked up this website in a prior course and have followed it since. == I give the website a 4 out of 5, as well as 4 stars. It serves a purpose to keep educating myself in my content area. It can but is not focused on intergrating technology in the classroom, however the other main points listed at the top of this page are all satisfied in every post. - Rich Vleck

[|I'm Techin PE Blog]

This would be the ideal blog for the Physical Education Teacher had it been updated recently. The rate that technology advances at makes this information from 2009 and 2010 nearly obscelete. Andy, the Phys. Ed. Teacher that created and maintains the blog uses a clever pun in the title and incorporates plenty of video and images to support his messages. The site is pretty much only a blog, but it is all focused on how to integrate technology into Physical Education. There is a lot of content available, but without updates it will eventually run out if not updated in the future. With that being said, this link can only recieve a 3/5 rating, but it is still a must-look-at for P.E. Teachers. - Rich Vleck

__**General Resources for Educators**__ [|2¢ Worth] David Warlick offers an insight into what a blog can be. As a leader in the field of educational technology, he sets the bar for everyone else in the use of technology as a teaching tool. The blog is visually appealing and easy to use. In addition it is accessible to people with special-needs. The topics he discusses are intelligent and well developed. He goes beyond the topics in the news and discusses his field and the latest developments. 1. The blog is helpful in advising teachers with integrating technology in the classroom. 2. The blog contains well developed and thought provoking entries. 3. The blog integrates examples with explanations or analysis. 4. The blog is relevant, accurate, and up to date with new technologies. 5. The blog is visually appealing and easy to navigate. -Vernon Camp = = ==== ==== ==== Kelly Tenkley is a former elementary teacher who, after one year in a second grade classroom, found her passion in working with technology. She then spent 6 years working as k-5 technology specialist and another 5 years helping teachers integrate technology in their classroom. Currently she works as an independent consultant providing help to teachers with integrating technology, professional development, curriculum design as well as other educational technology consulting. She has received many awards and accolades just to name a couple; iLearn Technology was named Best Educational Tech Support Edublog 2009. and named Top Educator by Games Classroom, her blog was described as a tech rich resource. ==== ==== Her blog is visually appealing, her posts are relevant and address new technologies. It was her post about Google's Swiffy tool which first caught my attention. Swiffy is a tool which allows developers to upload a Flash SWF file and convert to an HTML5 making this content visible on iphones and ipads. This blog contains a wealth of information for all educators. ====
 * = iLearn technology =


 * ==== [|Bloomberg's Technology in the Classroom Blog] ====

I found this site to be a different angle on what we are exploring. The blog, as well as the website division is part of Business Exchange on Bloomberg.com. It has a more corporate feel which probably is not as great for teachers, but it has a blog, news and most active section that I found to be pretty inciteful. It also has a business look, so it is not visually appealing and does not invite warm-hearted discussion. Without a doubt though, there is a lot of items related to Integrating Technology in the Classroom that are being or have been discussed in the media. This is a reputable site that is concerned about meeting this objective, so for their efforts I give this a 3 out of 5. It certainly is a site that should be visited a time or two per month to check in on the headlines this topic is making. - Rich Vleck

I found this site to be very interesting. It is all about technology not just associated with schools. It brings up facebook and Google among other technologies and has brief blogs about them. The website is very catchy and has a lot going on. When you open up the homepage it has a whole bunch of articles posted that you can blog about. Some i have found to be very relevant to school and our students. Very easy to navigate through the different articles and post comments on them. You can print articles, share them on Facebook and twitter. The site is run by Mark Fox and he is located in Australia. He is a teacher and keeps the website updated constantly. I give this site a 4 out of 5. It is a very cool resource and i will be visiting often to see what is going on in the tech world. -Ben Reynolds
 * ====[|The Teacher's Hub]====

=[|Learning with 'e's: Child Friendly Technologies]=

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Steve Wheeler is a phenomenal professor of technology learning and has numerous degrees and credentials. His blog has been nominated for numerous awards and has won many of them. He includes various articles and resources for technology education. He also has many other links to blogs that he follows that are great as well.

-Lindzey O'Brien

= eLearning Technology  = =   = ====   Tony Karrer is a very technical guy from Los Angeles, California. Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of Tech Empower, a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. His blog includes current technology articles and resources. ====

-Lindzey O'Brien
= = =BaconBytes.Wordpress = = = "Educators can learn about new technology tools for the classroom, classroom experiences with technology, and what I hope are valuable tech tips,” explained blogger Chris Hyde about his site. He also identified the re-occurring themes on his blog as the “sharing of technology, tools, tips, and experiences for the classroom with an occasional personal view of technology in education.” Hyde is a technology integrator for a school district in Pennsylvania.

-Alicia Roberts

There are numerous ways English and language arts teachers can integrate technology into classroom instruction. Teachers of language arts and literature can use the Internet, digital media tools, and common software applications to enhance student learning. Alicia Roberts
 * Glencoe ﻿ **

Teachers Love Smartboard This website provides teachers with varies resources to use with a smart board.

Alicia Roberts

[|Learning Is Messy]  The blog’s creator Brian Crosby gives insight into the benefits that he has had with introducing technology to his students. He offers different uses of technology in the classroom, including blogging, skype-ing and wiki pages. This website lacked visual appeal, but his blog posts were very informative and helpful for educators of any classroom. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">-Tricia Cancian

The open classroom is a blog run by a teacher who has since left teaching but still keeps in tune with what is going on in the world of education. Every week she find articles or website which contain something to do with education, whether it be about workshops or children's books. The website is plain but easy to navigate. She has many links on there. You have to click on each link. She does not give a brief introduction to the article. This is one of the many blogs which might help you stay in touch with all that is out there for education. -Ben Reynolds
 * [|The Open Classroom]

I found this blog to be very interesting. Almost all of the topics have to do with your classrooms. The blog is set up for just that, the guy who runs the blogs comes up with these ideas specifically for feedback. He wants to know what the general view is on each of the topics he has blogged about. I find this very relevant in the times we are going through. Many times people are afraid to speak up, but on a blog where they can be protected by a user name, the lines are open. I gave this a 3 out of 5 because it still lacks even though it is a cool site. -Ben Reynolds
 * =[|2¢ Worth]=