12 Great Blogs to Read in 2012 I was tidying up my blog reader over the new year and thought I would share some of my favourite-to-read blogs. I subscribe to quite a lot of blogs so this really is just the tip of the iceberg, and some you may have heard about before if you have been around these parts for a while or in the ‘Play Online’ section of the Play Grow Learn, but I can guarantee that these twelve always provide good blog – whether it be for information, inspiration or educational purposes… 1. Not Just Cute: I love learning from others in my profession and Amanda never fails to get me thinking! From the Not Just Cute About page:“I don’t have a personal grievance with the word “cute”. 2. “I am a Mama. “Our little home is a mixture of chaos, laughter, clutter, mess, love and sillyness….it is perfectly imperfect. 4. “I am an early childhood educator passionate about photography and documentation as daily integrated tools for understanding young childrens play, process and development. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
Engaging Employees to Increase Engagement Leaders everywhere these days are talking about how to create more engaged employees. Consultants, authors, and speakers are consulting, writing, and speaking about the importance of increased employee engagement. It is a trend that makes good sense. In Gallup’s most recent survey, they found only 28% of employees actively engaged, which they define as: Engaged employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They drive innovation and move the organization forward. 28% engaged, means 72%, at some level, aren’t. Many studies have found nearly immediate and drastically positive correlations between increased engagement and higher productivity and profitability (among many other wonderful outcomes). And the issue is important for human reasons too – it is just the right thing to do, to have a place and an environment where people can spend so many hours being closer to their best selves, rather than waiting for quitting time and their paycheck. Students About Teachers
Enjoy and Embrace Learning Adventures in High School Administration Google Reader (1000+) Learning About Blogs FOR Your Students- Part I: Reading When thinking about “BLOGGING” , the untrained eye (in regards to blogging) of an educator usually will think of “Technology Integration”. When digging a little deeper he/she might recognize that blogging is more about WRITING than technology. But let’s roll blogging back even a little further and we will discover that blogging starts with READING! Part I- Reading Becoming an avid blog reader of a variety of blogs is the first step for a teacher contemplating blogging with his/her students. Will Richardson in his book “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful We Tools for Classrooms” (Corwin Press 2006) states about blogging: Connective writing is, for the most part expository writing, but the process starts with reading [...] We need to formulate and address intended learning outcomes for our students when blogging. As teachers read blogs regularly, the better they will become in Blogging is about writing, but it begins with reading. [...] So let’s take a look at READING blogs. Science
10 Inspirational Student Blogs Blogging is a huge part of the education technology movement – a great way for schools to connect and share what’s happening, and a fantastic resource for teachers to pass on exciting new resources and techniques. (See our earlier post, ’7 Must Read Blogs for Teachers’) But what about students? Encouraging students to get involved in the process of blogging can be hugely beneficial in a number of different ways. First and foremost, it helps them to practice their writing technique, forming different types of posts to address different audiences and tackle different topics. This allows them to learn the techniques of writing to persuade, advise, argue and many other important writing styles. But blogging also gives students a fabulous outlet for their creativity – from writing their own stories and poems to jazzing up their blog theme with colours and pictures and learning how to embed videos and links using code. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.