Blog City - Assignment #6

http://huzzah.edublogs.org/ I liked that this class blog was stated as being “a work in progress” instead of a polished piece. I think the idea behind educational or classroom blogs is that they are a continual progression of student work and projects, and do not have to be finished products. I also really liked that each student had their own blog page you could access. I had already thought about wanting each of my future students to have the ability to create their own page.

http://borges.edublogs.org/ I really liked this class blog by an 8^th grade math teacher in Toronto. The teacher calls the class, “The Geeks from Down the Street” and has includes many neat features to his blog. One feature is homework assignments that he lists on the blog. Some assignments are to read an article he left up on the page while others are reminders about due dates and upcoming projects. Another feature I like is the link for Parents & Educators about important news happening with the district. I could even have a newsletter link here. The only thing I do not like about his blog is that the layout has to stay the same every time you click on a link. I would like to see some variety in the layouts.

http://2rshiningstars.blogspot.com/ This blog stuck out to me because it is from a 2^nd grade classroom in Australia! There class is called the 2 R Shining Stars and they have lots of neat stuff on their blog. The first thing I saw that I liked was the gadget called “Shelfari” where you can add books to an online ‘shelf’! This website is designed as a social network for people who love books. You can add books you’ve read, are currently reading, or want to read. I loved it so much I signed up and added the widget to my blog!

http://mrmillersblog.com/ Loved this teacher’s blog spot! There are so many fun ways to get kids engaged online through blogging. I can’t wait to test it out this fall with my class. This teacher, Mr. Miller, calls his blog their home on the internet – very catchy! Mr. Miller’s blog was interesting to me because of the connection he made around the world with other schools. Once you are on his blog you can instantly connect to other schools all over the world! It looks like his 6^th graders even interacted a bit with other schools. There is a lot of text on his page so the only change I would make is to add some pictures to break up all the words.

http://baileyrdteam17.blogspot.com/ This blog instantly appealed to me because they used Wall Wisher on their blog. I am familiar with Wall Wisher but didn’t know I could imbed it into a blog spot! Wall Wisher allows students to leave sticky notes with their thoughts about a certain topic. This blogspot was also appealing because of all the photos and videos the teacher posted. Interestingly enough the class was from New Zeeland and instead of using the phrase, “we learned” they used the phrase, “we learnt”. It’d be neat to have this discussion with my students about the different grammar uses around the world.