Best individual blog: http://ideasandthoughts.org/ Dean Shareski is a bit like the trickster raven in aboriginal mythology: sometimes he plays jester, but pay attention! Dean’s posts always make me think. He pushes me to reflect. I have learned a lot from his blog, in his open classroom sessions, in K-12 online presentations, and yes, on Twitter.
Best individual tweeter: http://twitter.com/CourosA “Tweeting” makes it sound rather insignificant, but Alec Couros’ influence on my thinking about open learning, community, generosity, networks, connectivism, family …well, on the stuff of life in general, has been quite profound. He is always pointing the way to the good things. And, having met him, I know he is who he represents himself to be online. No BS, straight goods, kindness, transparency, all in a flow of 140 characters or less.
Best group blog: http://polar09.yesican-science.ca/ Susan Stiff and Diane Hammond have created a great place for students to connect with science and scientists. Our class took part in a series of web casts with polar scientists followed by blog connections– a one-of-kind opportunity for kids. Theirs is such an amazing resource.
Best new blog: http://rippleeffect.edublogs.org/ Jaki Braidwood is a colleague who has got the whole thing goin’ on. She’s new to blogging, but is such a pro. What a rich experience she provides her students!
Best class blog: http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/ Imagine being classroom teacher to not just 30 kids but over 500 kids (I am certain it was way more). Sue’s blogging challenge (her 3rd one) was a brilliant way to bring my new students into the community of bloggers and stretch their skills. She  has helped countless students and teachers become better bloggers.

Best student blog: http://danielwh16.edublogs.org/ I purposely did not nominate any of my current students, although I have outstanding bloggers this year. I nominate a Huzzahnian grad (whose reports I no longer write!). Daniel was my student last year and is in his second year as a blogger. I suggest looking back to his first post here to understand how far he’s come. Daniel is a gaming fan, a significant passion he has cultivated into an expertise. Take a look at his latest posts–I think this 12 year old should be writing for gaming magazines. Beyond his writing skill, Daniel is very generous with his comments and support to other bloggers. A great role model.

Best teacher (leader) blog: http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com/I am actually cheating on this one because David Truss is technically an administrator, but he is always a teacher. I think it is time the Edublog Awards recognize the influence of blogging administrators. David has always been an educator who reflects on his practice. The whole community benefits from his thinking out loud, as well as his encouragement.
Best librarian / library blog: http://bookminder.blogspot.com/ I feel Lesley Edwards is MY librarian. If I am looking for something, she and her six beejillian Delicious links are where I go. Such a sharer and encourager. Too bad for her district that she will retire soon, but lucky us that she is the epitome of a life-long learner.

Best educational tech support blog: http://theedublogger.com/ There is no conflict here: they could not pay Sue Waters enough to do what she does to keep blogs of all kinds afloat. Fast, efficient, helpful, and not without attitude, Sue has profoundly affected my growth as a blogging teacher.

Best educational use of a social networking service: http://elementarytechteachers.ning.com/ Even though I am not a tech teacher, I found this to be a rich community.  This wiki was started by Nedra Isenberg in April 2008 and her welcoming attitude has kept it active–as has the generous, talented membership. I think I was member 35. There are well over 800 members in this niche Ning.

Best resource sharing blog: http://paulhami.edublogs.org/ Paul Hamilton gave the first blogging workshop I ever attended and has been a tremendous encouragement to me. His blog addresses special education, but the title reflects his UDL philosophy: Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner–Educational and Assistive Technology to support Universal Access and Universal Design for Learning. I am always seeking ways to address diversity in my classroom; his blog is often my first stop, and if I am lucky, I get to talk to him face to face.

Most influential blog post: http://ideasandthoughts.org/2008/07/17/student-and-teacher-blogging-that-succeeds/ Yes, Dean Shareski’s post is more than a year old, but I continue to quote and share it. It is essential context for sustaining blogging in the classroom.

There you have it.

Image: puzzled hearts water refractions by Lin R0n

Yesterday at 6 pm I published a post on our class blog about our Heritage Fair. At 7 pm I received an email from one of my students:

Hi Mrs. Smith

That is a great post you worte but i have some suggestions

1. Add links to the names of the class mates
2. Maybe share more info on what classmates said about the differences in presentations in the library to the class.

signed ***

I have to say I am thrilled with this email because this tells me a few things:

1. What I’ve been saying about linking is sticking. She noticed that I didn’t do it.
2. What I’ve modeled about the power of feedback to help a writer improve is sticking.
3. What I have said about reading thoughtfully is sticking. She obviously read deeply enough to notice what was missing–I had not included the really important conversation we had following the Fair
4. What I have been saying about the subtleties of what sorts of comments should be made on a blog, and what should be made via other means is sticking. Although her feedback would have been just fine on the blog, I think it was thoughtful to choose email instead.
5. Most significant to me, her email says something about our relationship. She trusts me enough to feel confident that her feedback would be welcomed.

There are days when I suspect that I am just so much white noise in the lives of my students. And then there are others when I notice a change in attitude, a strategy applied, growth in thinking, or more mature behaviour. Blogging has created fertile ground for all of us. The roots go down and the plant grows up.

Have you ever had feedback from your students, parents, or colleagues that has made you aware of the postive effects of your teaching that you weren’t expecting?  I’d love to hear it.

Now I’ve got a post to edit.

I joked with my colleagues that I should never stand outside my classroom door, as I am likely to get asked to do a job I hadn’t planned on. A few weeks back my principal asked if I would present something on Smartboards for the annual gathering of Vancouver Island school trustees which our district was hosting. I asked if I could do something on blogging instead as it is the focus of my action research.

What to say to Trustees?

As the event got closer, I was beginning to wonder what a trustee would know or want to know about blogging. I would have a context for a teaching audience–and a parent audience, but what would be the background knowledge, interests, and concerns of trustees? Enter the trusty PLN –personal learning network via Twitter. I tweeted and got some great responses from Lorna Costantini, Kathy Cassidy, Cindy Seibel and Heidi Hass-Gable, who was so generous with her time that we had a Skype call.

How much to say?

I had to think about how deep to go in the time I had (and that seemed to float–initially 15 minutes, then 45, settling at about half an hour), which wasn’t a lot. Or too much, depending… I decided they might need the context of Web 2.0 and an explanation of the concept of a read and write web. So I created a short PowerPoint (below) and decided to focus on two aspects of blogging that seem to be especially important to my students: their digital identity (pride, confidence, the desire to represent the best of themselves, their learning profiles are less visible or a barrier) and the audience that blogging gives them (family, peers, students around the world). After that I’d share a video of interviews that Paul Hamilton did with five of my students in December. I was then going to tour them quickly through our class blog, Huzzah!, and the student blogs, and then invite questions or conversation.

How it went

I arrived for the set up and realized I could load all the student’s blogs in the lab so the trustees could see individual ones after the fact. A senior administrator popped in, and gave me a really valuable head’s up: the trustees were from an older demographic than he expected. His job was to shepherd the 50 trustees between presentations, and they were getting tired (oh dear). My time was going to be about 25 minutes.

I am pretty pleased with the way that the presentation itself went. I have been living blogging with my students for four months and I am very proud of their growth. I was only somewhat nervous, and the technology didn’t fail me. The questions were interesting: Kathy Cassidy was right: the first audience statement during the presentation was, “You mean anyone can see them?” Other questions after I spoke were about parent involvement and education, one about spelling,  and my favourite, “What did you need to do before you were successful?”. I said I had to fail. I had to learn what blogging wasn’t before I understood what it was. I said I also have to be able to fail in front of my students so I can model the two most important tech skills: troubleshooting and having a plan B (and C, and…).

Regrets

I wish I had:

• first surveyed the audience about their use of the Internet, and knowledge of blogging;
• been more thorough in defining or touring a blog–what a post is etc.;
• edited the video–at eight minutes it was too long;
• emphasized more the need for peer-to-peer teacher support while teachers are taking risks. It would have been the perfect opportunity to get the bug in the ear of people who can make change happen and maybe get technology integration support positions in our district.

Learning

• I have a fabulous PLN through Twitter.
• Drinking water and not wearing under-wire are important to presenter comfort (learned that before–this is gender specific advice).
• I know enough about the richness of blogging with students that I can actually say I have expertise, which surprises me.

No doubt I’ll present again–in fact I have to in April. So I am open to suggestions from your experiences–any advice on how to plan for and deliver to an audience about the power and potential of technology? Love to hear from you.

Here’s one post that caught my eye: What Makes a Good Blog? His first point is:

1. Good blogs have a voice. Who wrote this? What is their name? What can I figure out about who they are that they have never overtly told me? What’s their personality like and what do they have to contribute… What tics and foibles fascinate make me about this blog and the person who makes it? Most importantly: what obsesses this person?

Scott McLeod, at Dangerously Irrelevant, talks about the uncovering of personality through the social web. “Chink by chink, brick by brick, pixel by pixel – the picture becomes more clear and complete. Is this someone with whom I want to connect? Is this someone with whom I want to converse? Is this someone from whom I want to learn?”

I notice the blogs I go back to have a voice, a personality revealed through the style, content, and tone of the author. I have been enjoying Michele Martin’s The Bamboo Project blog, particularly because her voice is honest. Bloggers whose humanity, not infallibility, shine through their posts keep me reading and learning (though, yes, I admit to reading bloggers whose arrogance pushes me out of the room). Michele’s latest post, In A Panic, points to a side of life most of us keep hidden: dealing with stress and anxiety. This is so familiar:

My first inclination when I feel the panic rise is to stuff it back down, like an inappropriate relative who pops up at a gathering to say embarrassing things in front of the guests. I keep smiling and nodding and speaking over my panic, as though by pretending that it’s not there, it will decide to go away. Sometimes it does. Usually, though, it’s simply biding it’s time, waiting for the moment when my attention is turned elsewhere.

I’d like to say that with the years of teaching I have under my belt that I don’t get worried at this time of year, but I do. Just twelve days ’til school starts, and I am feeling the surge of panic–I don’t feel ready. Yes, I am excited, but…well, it’s the same worry about the unknown that kids experience too.

Perspective and optimism have helped me in the past: I will get through this! I remember telling myself during pregnancy that the only way out is through (which is both literally and figuratively true). And then there is the voice of Dory (Finding Nemo) reminding me to “just keep swimming, just keep swimming–that’s what we do, we swim, swim, swim.”

So, on blogging: what aspects of a blogger’s revealed personality most interest you?

And on school: how will you stay afloat this year?

Photo: Why so glum?? by bensonkua Creative Commons license

Is it just content?

It’s certainly important to me–after all, I am reading to learn and reflect on what others are saying. I appreciate practical advice on how to use 2.0 tools from people like Ann, Sue Waters, and Paul Hamilton. Other bloggers expand my understanding about the “big ideas” in learning and technology. David Warlick, David Truss, and Dina Strasser make me think.

What about design?

I must admit, some blogs make me a little crazy. I’m just not good with visual distractions like Vokis (the flapping hair in particular), animated advertisements, or really crowded sidebars. There are some pretty elegant sites out there, ones that are easy on the eyes. Dan Meyer’s blog fits this category.

The Tone

I am not sure if there is another word to describe this–is it attitude? Some blogs have a respectful presence, an ethic that builds community–Dean Shareski and Clarence Fisher come to mind. I think in part it is the way they handle new ideas and how they respond to people who comment on their blogs. I get the sense I would like to work with these folks. I bet they would make great colleagues. Some blogs are feisty, poking at the establishment, or offering up contrarian opinions. Good.

Then there are a few blogs that leave me feeling squirmy. The tone is superior, dismissive, too cool–and rude. Yes, I do read them. I have a morbid curiosity about them, I guess. What would it be like to share a staffroom with them? Would I feel safe?

Blogs I don’t (yet) read

I would love to see more blogs by classroom teachers who are not tech specialists, who are using 2.0 tools effectively in the content areas. I’d love to find blogs by drama teachers or art teachers who just blog, but don’t necessarily use technology directly. And I want to read more student blogs by kids who are not just responding to teacher prompts. I better get searching.

So, what are your criteria?

How do you choose your blogroll?

Image: I Love Books by Weeping-Willow under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic license