Blog Juice for Educational Technology

As a teacher of writing I have a lot of “marking” to do (called by teachers in other places “grading” or “correcting”) and it takes a lot of time. In common with many teachers I usually spend one day of every weekend on this task. There i…

Anne Davis over at Edublog Insights posted recently about how to be a good commenter. This is an issue that some of my year eights were struggling with today. They are very new at blogging and some have taken some comments personally as criticisms of t…

Another great post from Doug at Borderland. Doug’s post should be read in its entirety but I have just lifted a quote to give you the flavour. He is talking about an acitivty he did with his grade four students in looking at an article on civil rights…

From Josie Fraser a contribution to the development of something (a party?! I’m in) around International Women’s Day to raise the profile of women edubloggers and ensure that the fantastic work going on out there is recognised.
Josie says: Many coun…

In a recent post Warrick Wynne concludes that classroom blogging makes sense: “Of course classroom blogging does make sense; in essence it’s writing isn’t it? Ongoing, reflective, linked to the world writing.” And I would have to agree with that. S…

We have finally done it. All (except two who were away) have set up their blogs on learnerblogs. It is always a bit of a challenge at first and many students need to check with the teacher to see why it might not be working (had to get the site unbloc…

During the holidays, I was alerted to an article by Gunther Kress called “English in an era of instability: aesthethics, ethics, creativity and design” which I liked very much. Although he takes a long time to develop his argument it is very cogent an…

It’s been a while since I wrote, but I have been reading. However, this is only half a conversation. I would like to post more often and now that the first week of the new year is past, maybe I’ll get into a routine of writing befor school (if I get t…

I’m sitting here at school on the morning of the last teacher preparation day before the students come back. I really love the energy of the new year. There’s lots of discussion among teachers about texts and ways into them. There’s a sense in the air…

Two things that I’ve been mulling over for a few days: From Chris Lehmann: “I want our students to be the ’21st Century citizen’ in that they understand how to thrive in an ever-changing world. I want them to have the cognitive tools and energy …

Just recently there has been a wonderful conversation unfolding by podcast between Bob Sprankle’s grade 3/4 class and a member of one of David Warlick’s workshops at a podcast conference. The conversation started here when Bob introduced his class the…

2005 was the year I learned blogging, really learned it by focusing on it and by doing it myself, not just reading others’, although I learnt from reading as well. 2006 will be the year that I interrogate myself as a teacher, by focusing on my practic…

I have just finished reading James Gee’s Situated Language and Learning. It’s true I really am having a reading feast in these holidays. The main work of the holidays is to catch up on my reading for my Masters but also to prepare and set goals for my…