Essential #2 - Blogs

Setting up the blog was pretty simple. I have set up a blog before using Blogger. I think that the process is straight forward. I do think that when posting it takes some getting used to as you are limited in your editing tools. I think that blogging serves a purpose and the use of blogs has exploded over the recent years. There are a number of blogs that I currently follow.

I am now looking at having my students blog. Three of my classes (two 7th and one 8th) use a tool called kidblog.org. This is a great tool. I am finding out that my students really look forward to writing when I allow them to blog about things. There are times when you could hear a pin drop in my classroom when the students are working on their blogs. I encourage all of you to check it out.

As far as which blogs are my favorite, I have a few. First, the one that has shown me the most in terms of tech resources for educators has to be freetech4teachers.com. This blog is run by a teacher up in Maine who does a whale of a job putting up resources for educators from all content areas. Another one that I check quite often and have a great deal of respect for is a blog by Karl Fisch entitled "The Fischbowl". Karl Fisch is an educator from Colorado who is best know for his series of "Did You Know" videos. His latest is "Did You Know 4.0".

These are just a few of the blogs that I follow. Twitter is a tool that has helped me follow a large number of blogs at once, as every time that a person "posts" to his/her blog, they usually "tweet" about the post as well and provide you with a link. Twitter is a great tool.