Interesting Blogs in Education

I have never taken the time to look into blogs that are available on the web. Before venturing out, I thought blogs were just something that some of our professors incorporated to give us more work. However, after viewing some of the blogs that current teachers are using I started to see the use and benefit that blogging can bring to educators as well as students and parents.

There were two blogs in particular that stood out to me. The first is titled, 21st Century School Teachers. In this blog two teachers teamed together to create a site full of resources for other teachers and even parents. They offer links to "Cool Websites" about many different aspects of education. Some of the links are subject specific and offer ideas on new lesson for science, math, language arts and more. There are also links on how to publish work in the classroom on the internet as a way to showcase the work of students. As a future teacher a site like this would be extremely beneficial since I sometimes have difficulties with web searches. This blog also includes a link to a "tip sheet" which provides readers with tips on how to use popular as well as new technology in the classroom. This would also helpful as a quick guide to technologies I attempt to use. The blog posts that a published on this site usually reference other blogs and deal with issues in education. Not only does this site provide resources for other teachers but it also creates a forum for discussing dominate issues in education.

Another blog that I found interesting is called A Teacher's Thoughts. This blog focuses primarily on the use of technology for science instruction. It was interesting to see ways in which technology can be specified to different school subjects. The author of the blog provides information about online science fairs that teachers can use for their students. There is also information about online wiki's and ways that students can use it to bring their learning to a new level. Not only are these resources discussed, but there are also blog entries reflecting on the students' first experiences with the technologies. I enjoyed this aspect of the blog because it is always nerve racking to try new things. However, seeing how these new technologies worked with actual students gives teachers the opportunity to see what to expect and how to prepare for student reactions.

I think that blogs can offer teachers a fast and easy connection with their students and also their colleagues. As a teacher, I think that I will use blogs to keep up with new ideas for classroom instruction and also outside tools that can be used to further education. I think that blogs would also be a beneficial tool to use with students. I would create a blog for my students that provided a list of the assignments for the class and helpful resources they could use to complete them. Also, blogs would offer the students a tool to communicate with each other as well as me about topics covered in class. There could also be a link for parents to see what is going on in the classroom so that they can help their students to succeed. I hope that the school that I end up in will be open to the idea of blogging so that I can use this incredibly useful tool with my students and their parents.