Reflective Blog #1

          I am a student that is reviewing educational blogs. Following are some interesting classroom, educational, and teacher blogs that I found especially informative.

Classroom Blogs

Reflective Creations: http://reflectivecreations.wordpress.com/
I liked this classroom blog.The graphics are clean and easy to read and navigate.The poems by students were entertaining. The blog included book reviews by students and a link to Livefeedjit.com that lists the visitors' locations on a world map. Another link takes you to Spellingcity.com where there are spelling lists with games and activities to acquaint students with the words. Unfortunately, the last entry was November 2009, so we have to wait for more recent entries. However, there is much to do while waiting.I found this well worth the time to explore!


Mrs. Buckmaster's Class - Peeler open School for the Performing Arts: http://upperhouse.edublogs.org/

This is another great classroom blog. It has some clips of past performances by the Upper House kids. There are "shoutouts" from all over the world because the site includes a translation of the text. It was fun to read all the comments.The newsletter is from September 2009, but it gives a snippet of what is going on in class.
There are many photos and colorful graphics within a clean looking page. There is a link provided to the internet that also serves as a fundraiser for the school. Everytime you shop online, the school receives funds!
I would recommend this site to other schools with performing arts programs. Mrs. B. encourages classes to write and leave a link so that they can write back.When you communicate with them you can create your own avatar.

Educational Blogs

Science Notebooking: http://www.sciencenotebooking.blogspot.com/

This is a simple blog that includes many photos with explanations of science experiments that have been tried. The teacher has simple ideas to differentiate her lessons. The photos help to picture the projects as they are created.

Betchablog - education + technology + ideas: http://chrisbetcher.com/


Chris Betcher has many ideas about improving education. He currently conducts conferences in Australia and includes creative ways to use technology. I liked his stress on building relationships and trust with our students. He encourages "experiencing the unexpected" as teachers so that our hopes stay alive.One of the postings is a list of five skills that will take us into the 21st century as educators.Chris uses photos sparingly bu effectively in his format to keep it readable.I would recommend this site to any teacher that is reluctant to use technology or that needs warm encouragement.
 

Teacher Blogs

Ask a Tech Teacher: http://askatechteacher.wordpress.com/

I love this blog written by a former college business instructor that now is teaching technology an elementary school.  She offers many websites for kids that have been tried and proven in her own school.
I liked how they were organized into grade levels and topics to make it easier to navigate. Some of the lessons she used have a workbook to accompany them, so she has links to places like Amazon to order a hard copy, or Scribd.com to download an e-book. I recommend this site to anyone working with elementary or middle school students.



High Techpectations by Lucy Gray: http://elemenous.typepad.com/


If you are a classroom teacher who wants to join the global community of educators, this is the site for you. Lucy Gray encourages collaboration among teachers and communication among their classrooms. Not only does she have a wealth of information to share, but she welcomes others to share as well. People from all over the world have sent photos or videos which help to open conversation among the members.
There are members that use Skype to have live conversations. This site makes the world seem much smaller and accessible. Her home page is colorful and even includes a way to translate information so I recommend it to any educator.