Two blogs that I found interesting and helpful were Jim Burke's blog "The English Teacher's Companion," and the blog "2 Cents Worth."
I'm a big fan of Jim Burke. He is an English teacher who has written multiple book on teaching techniques, his life as a teacher, and different ways to approach education. His blog is a continuation of those books, but along with providing great lessons and lesson ideas, Burke posts interesting questions that arise in his senior classes, assignments that make his students look at larger ideas, and work samples that his students made which integrate technology into the learning. His blog also lists his other websites, books, and similar English-focused websites that can be useful for teachers. While this is a great blog for English teachers, it has a lot of great insight into the way high schoolers think, act, and behave. There is not much focus on "21st century teaching" but he gives great insight into educational issues as an experienced teacher.
Jim Burke's Blog
"2 Cents Worth" on the other hand has great discussions of technology, 21st century learning, debates concerning education, the purpose of critical thinking and more. I like that this blog is focuses on issues and topics in education. The author discusses a lot of what we have talked about as a class already including technology and building on skillsets, what constitutes 21st century teaching, web 2.0, and similar topics. Warlick poses some interesting questions, but does not provide many "best teaching" practices with technology which could be a better combination. Nonetheless, it is an interesting and well-written blog and forces readers to really consider many of the topics we'll be discussing as a class.
2 Cents Worth
Kelsey, I like the idea of the Jim Burke blog. It seems simple, an effective teacher describing what they do in the classroom. If each of us had a few of those to check in with, especially using the reader, what great collaboration! The best professional development workshops I have been to are ones where teachers run them, and teachers share and exchange lesson plans and ideas. With this technology this can be shared without having to attend such conferences. Great find.
ReplyDeleteBill
Kelsey,
ReplyDeleteI too liked Jim Burke's blog. I have heard of his books and I feel the blog is a great supplement to them. Although I am an ESL teacher, I have to prepare my students for mainstream English classes and this is a great resource to access on teaching and high school students.
Linda
I liked the 2 Cents Worth, it seemed to have a great running commentary on all the up and coming trends in education. I like that is presented as a kind of random thoughts, rambling about what catches his attention for the moment because that is kind of how my brain works... The blogger presents his experiences with a "take this how you may" kind of attitude, so you aren't immediately turned off thinking you are reading someone's pushy preaching, which can sometimes happen in the blogosphere.
ReplyDelete