EduBlog Insights

Wahoo! It was so exciting to recieve Will’s book in the mail. Finally, a book on blogging written from an educator’s perspective. Nobody could have written it better than Will. I know it will spark teachers on to go forth and blog and experiment with other powerful web tools for classrooms. Will has given educators lots of food for thought about how learning occurs with respect to the web. My desire is that they will start thinking about the possiblilities. I hope many teachers will read the book and think long and hard about education in our classrooms today. I especially hope that new voices will enter the arena and that there will be a learning explosion like none we have had before. I know, I am the eternal optimist but I say let’s dare to dream. The book is a great start. Well done, Will, well done!

International Edublogging Women’s Day 2006
Celebration 4

Amy Bowllan is the LibraTech Director at the Kew-Forest School in Forest Hills, NY. Her blog is “Life in The 21st Century.” I love the tagline on her blog, “Even the smallest crayon leaves a mark” She also blogs on the School Library Journal blog, the SLJ blog.

I really appreciate her posts. She blogs about a wide variety of topics, all interesting reads. She is a master at weaving the personal with the professional. That makes her blog stand out. So many of her posts resonate with me but one that stands out was “Teach Students To ASK First.” She was talking about a group of sixth graders in Brooklyn who had written tasteless letters to soldiers. Amy went on to pose her thoughts about students learning the correct way to voice their opinions. She doesn’t just post about events but gives her opinion and possible solutions. That’s proactive. I like it. Plus Amy has a wonderful mom whom I met through blogging. She also talks about relevant issues that are happening and poses questions for us to ponder. Amy makes connections in powerful ways. We need more bloggers like her.

International Edublogging Women’s Day 2006
Celebration 3

Hillary Meeler took to blogs like a duck takes to water. She observed and worked right along with me last year in The Write Weblog group. I worked with blogs at J.H. House for three years with three different blogging groups and knowing that the blogging continues with all those wonderful students ,who can so capture your heart, really makes me so thankful. It keeps me in touch with my favorite school and my favorite group of students. I love following the Blog Write group. Hillary has gotten a lot of teachers up and blogging this year. Her latest is a dynamite group of six ESOL students. Now that really makes me soar! In fact, I had to just leave this post to go post to the six students. I got so excited! I hope others will post to them, too.

Hillary also blogs about all the good things going on at the school at House Highlights. Thank you Hillary. for making a difference not only in the lives of children but many others as well.

International Edublogging Women’s Day 2006
Celebration 2

Barbara Ganley of bgblogging writes like I wish I could. I love reading her posts because every single one of them are powerful and meaningful. She gives you an understanding of how all this is shaping our relationships with our students. She poses questions that we all need to be considering. She has a profound impact on my thinking. Her posts address issues I am most concerned with and she provides such relevant examples of what she is discussing. She expresses the connections part of blogging so very well. She is a Lecturer in the Writing Program and English, and the Director of The Project for Integrated Expression at Middlebury College. She has blogged about numerous innovative, writing- centered projects.Her reflections on her teaching and the learning of her students and her insights about using all this new media in our writing classrooms should be on the reading lists of all educators.

International Edublogging Women’s Day 2006
Celebration 1

Starting my celebration off with Josie Fraser is so appropriate because she embodies what blogging is all about. Here she is again, promoting, celebrating and as usual, getting the job done! She would be a hard act to follow! She is a UK based educational technologist at Wyggeston & Queen Elizableth 1st College in Leicester. Her blog, EdTechUK always addresses relevant issues and give you lots of food for thought. Her enthusiasm is contagious and she works tirelessly to promote recognition of all the many bloggers in our educational world. She managed the Edublogs Awards this year and did so in such a way to make us all proud! She created the cool project on Frappr to map the location of edubloggers around the world. Those are just a couple of the many good things she is involved in. One of my favorite posts of hers is “Students as Creators” The article she points to argues the case that students have a wealth of untapped potential. What I like best about Josie is that she is a true advocate of seeing that student potential is realized. Then her post, Women worth less than men, tells it like it, unfortunately, still is.Her posts are so interesting and I find her images intriguing and fun. I’m so glad her voice is out there in our blogging world.

International Edublogging Women’s Day 2006
Today is March 1st. March 8th is International Women’s Day. I received an email from Josie Fraser a little over a week ago that has had been thinking ever since.