Blog Juice for Educational Technology

I’ve got to add this to my wiki for “Relevant Posts”. Actually Clarence has many that I consider relevant but this particular one, “Authentic Voices“, truly resonates with me. He blogs about how his students’ blogging is “real”. It is authentic. He says he sometimes cringes about what the kids in his class have written. […]

It’s nice to see Jo McLeay’s good work spotlighted on an article entitled The worldwide classroom in The Age.com
Quotes from the article:
Her blog, The Open Classroom, seeks to construct “an identity in the blogosphere while reflecting on learning and teaching and technology”.
“People comment and join in the discussion - it is like the […]

My heart warms every time I read about J.H. House and the good work that is being done there. Education World in ‘’Writing with Weblogs’  features Hillary Meeler of BlogWrite.
It spotlights the good work that Hillary and the students are doing
with blogging. Just listen to her words in the opening paragraph:

Hillary describes the
weekly sessions with her fifth-graders and explains the selection
process, the learning connections they are making and her observations
on the blogging experience.

So, keep up the good work Hillary. Next week Georgia State
will be sponsoring another legislative event to thank our legislators
and spotlight some of the good things going on in technology with our
Georgia students. Two of Hillary’s bloggers will be joining us at the
event. I just know some legislators will see first hand the value of
blogging that night. I can’t wait!

I’ve posted earlier about Lani and the difference she has made for my blogging students this year.  Another person making a difference is Bronwyn G.

Bronwyn G’s profile tells me she is female, a writer, and from Australia. I could not find an email address on A Witness to Tolerance 
to write to her. I wanted to thank her for her comments.  What a
writer she is! You know, this is one of the best aspects of blogs, it’s
the people you meet and then the conversations, connections, and
learning that develop. I follow a lot of blogs, especially the student
blogs and I
have found Bronwyn G’s “blog-prints” on many of them. I’ve read her
comments to these students: Chloe, Jadae, Jason, Derrick, Graciela, Marisela, Angel, Jose-Juan, Zachary,(on Zachary’s note the additional comment to his mom - awesome!)  and Ellie. 
I’m sure there are more. Of course, I have to follow them. I love her
responses. She is so encouraging yet pushes the students to think and
kindly offers gentle suggestions for improvement. She’s offered her
thoughts on mine as well, like here when I was thinking about podcasts. That is so appreciated! She even extended a warm welcome to Miss Neville, a young teacher just starting a school blog.

There’s nothing more motivating for young bloggers than having mentors
who are really listening, caring and responding. I wanted to extend a
personal thank you to both Lani and Bronwyn G.  I think they
should both consider writing their suggestions for commenting. They are
exceptional!  I also think we need to spend more time teaching our
students the value and the power of commenting back and forth on blogs.
I’ve experimented with comment starters and had discussions about
comments but I plan to do more exploring in this area.

Hillary is getting the job done at J.H. House!  Hillary Meeler is the Instructional Technology Specialist. She worked with me last year on The Write Weblog. This year, the school purchased TypePad and Hillary is getting blogs up and going, one by one. It is so exciting!

First, here is her House Highlights. Then check out Principal’s Quest II,  Counselor’s Corner,  Get Your Blog in Shape, and Get Your Blog in Tune.I
know lots more will follow. Mrs. Goode of ‘Get Your Blog in Tune’ is
new to blogging this year so drop by and give her a warm welcoming
comment!

I was browsing the new J.H. House website. It looks spiffy - even has a ‘Meet Our Bloggers’ page. Kudos to Hillary!