It’s worth keeping an eye on these blogs…

I didn’t realise that I’d been mentioned on zarcoenglish blog, till I did some catch up reading yesterday!  Thanks for the honour!  It’s part of an initiative called ‘Vale a pena ficar de olho nesse blog’, which means ‘It’s worth keeping an eye on this blog’.  The recommended blogger copies the picture, with a link to the blog from which they received the award and recommends ten of their own favourite blogs.

Let me start by saying that I subscribe to over 200 education blogs. Let me add that they were accumulated gradually for different reasons and I certainly don’t have time to read them all regularly, but they are there in my reader and I come back to them from time to time.  What I have realised is that as my needs have changed, and as my thinking has advanced, so has my ‘taste’ in blogs.

There was a time when I wanted to read all the edtech blogs I could find. These blogs helped me get going into the world of web 2.0 and opened up the possibilities of what was available and what could be done. I still refer to them, but have reached a point, where I understand that I don’t need 1000 different new tools.  I can use the ones I am familiar with and gradually explore new ones when I have the time.  Thank you to those bloggers who have helped me get to where I am by sharing tools and promoting web 2.0 and supporting me when I need it.

I like reading blogs about the need for educational reform. They help me clarify my thoughts about how education needs to change, further develop my own beliefs about teaching and learning, and be aware of how and why my thinking is changing. But sometimes I feel  the same things are being said over and over in different ways to a receptive audience who already agrees.  Thank you to those bloggers who make me constantly question my practice, think about educatonal reform and strive for change in my own school.

Currently some of my favourite blogs are teacher reflections… about their practice, about their classes, about learning. I enjoy reading posts by other classroom teachers, describing great learning that takes place in their schools.  Great learning excites me, whether it’s mine or my students or someone else’s. I particularly like blog posts that make me think about meaningful learning.  As a PYP teacher, I love reading blogs by other IB educators especially those that combine inquiry and technology.

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So.. These are some blogs I like at the moment. I can’t say the list is comprehensive, as there are so many great educational blogs out there!  I have deliberately chosen not to include  some of the most well known blogs which already have huge followings  (I read them too!).  Some of these do fit into that category, but not all.  What I can say is, these are blogs that have all made me think in different ways…  And I can say … ‘Vale a pena ficar de olho nesse blog’ about each one of them!

Sam’s Workshops by Sam Sherratt

Tech Tranformation by Maggie

In the pICTure by Ian Guest

Concrete Classroom by Michael Kaechele

Adventures in Teaching and Learning by Derek Keenan

The Spicy Learning Blog by Royan Lee

Blogging about the Web 2.0 Classroom by Steven Anderson

Classroom Chronicles by Henrietta Miller

Nina’s Arena by Nina Davis

Always Learning by Kim Cofino

and I’ll add one more, a member of my in-school PLN, a brand new blogger whose voice will be worth hearing, I am sure FiLearning by Fiona Birkin.

(No doubt, a minute after I click ‘publish, ‘ I’ll think of some I should have included…)