Edublog Nominations

Awards? What’s good about awards these days? For Edublogs Eddies, it’s a chance for me to thank the educators who been an inspiration or model for me.

Every year since 2004, the Edublog community has sponsored these awards. It was the Edublogs Teacher Challenge that helped me get started in blogging, and I so appreciate that challenge and the safe community they have developed for educators and their students to learn and contribute to the global community. My friend, Tracy Watanabe, has nominated the Teacher Challenge as Best open PD / unconference / webinar series. If you want to try blogging, the Teacher Challenge is one way to easily get started.

What other categories are part of this award?

Here are a few, along with my nominations.  Please take the time to nominate your favorite blogs. Just write a post and share that post in the Edublogs nomination form here.
•    Best individual blog
Shifting Phases
Mylène teaches electronics in a 2-year technician program on the east coast of Canada. Her blog is an excellent example of reflective inquiry in practice. I stumbled upon this recently and spent much time reading her thoughts and processes and link to other reflective teachers, like middle school science teacher Jason Buell’s Always Formative blog.  Even though I teach middle school, I learned some processes and ideas from Mylene, and some argument strategies for the Common Core State Standards from Jason as a result of reading her blog.

•    Best group blog

Cooperative Catalyst

I subscribe to this feed to read the ideas presented in these passionate educators’ words that share ideas, pedagogy, processes, and strategies. I may not always agree, but that is the conversation presented here — a dialogue of reform.  Their vision is stated thus: “Passionate educators challenge one another to propose sustainable solutions and structures for re-imagining schools and education, supporting one another to enact and refine the ideas.”

 

•    Best class blog
Kreb’s Class Blogs
These students are amazing: they help others in many ways: Cancer, Global Warming Research.  Both students and teachers share their learning here, with links to student blogs as well. Mrs. Krebs own teacher blog has already been nominated for an award; as you can see by her class blog, she is an inspiring teacher.  If you comment, or email, she will provide you with answers to your questions.

•    Best student blog

Atsman is an eighth grade blogger who shares not only class discussions, but also well-written ideas complete with links and sources. Take a look!

•    Best ed tech / resource sharing blog

wwwantanabe

Tracy Watanabe is an amazing educator; this blog does just what it says, “…learning about 21st Century classrooms, Project-Based learning, One-to-One, and Individualized Instruction through rigor, relevance, and relationships…”  I subscribe to this blog also and have learned so much about project-based learning, including courses, resources, and strategies that have helped me implement PBL units in my classroom. Her information on rigor and relevance are timely considering the emphasis on Common Core State Standards. Her tech reviews are clear and relevant to practical use in the classroom. And the best part is, Tracy will respond to all your questions and lead you to more resources. This is a ‘must follow’ blog!

•    Best teacher blog

Always Formative

Jason Buell is a middle school science teacher whose reflective inquiry leads us to understand the strategies he uses to engage learners, with continuous emphasis on formative assessment and feedback.  Take a look around; you will learn so much that is relevant to the Common Core State Standards we in the US are implementing.

 
•    Best administrator blog

Principally Speaking

Robert Dillon provides frequent updates on issues of the day, with plenty of links and suggests to inspire his staff and his readers to implement strategies in their classrooms that effect change.
•    Most influential blog post

for the love of learning: Giving Students Zeroes Teachers Them a Lesson

Joe Bower passionately and clearly explains how giving zeroes affects our students, especially those who need us the most. I follow Joe Bower’s blog to reignite the fire of teaching. His blog shares what I, and many more, have come to believe. He is on a mission to reform education, and grading policies are top issues for him. Please, join his conversation; that’s what blogs are all about!

•    Best individual tweeter
JoAnnJacobs68  I so look forward to JoAnn’s inspiration; her comments and her own blog posts inspire me to smile no matter what, and to keep moving forward.  Follow her, and you will be greeted with “Aloha my friend.”

It’s no surprise she shared this tweet:

JoAnn Jacobs@JoAnnJacobs68

Teach Them About Kindness #30GoalsEdu http://shellyterrell.com/2012/11/24/teach-them-about-kindness-30goalsedu/#.ULDq7E3h4_0.twitter … via @shellterrell #choose2matter

Thanks, JoAnn! for your awesome kindness!

•    Best twitter hashtag
I’m going to say the best twitter hashtag is the one each group creates that provides them with the opportunity to share and connect and plan.  If you don’t have a twitter hashtag, find a group here:  Cybraryman
•    Best free web tool

I know someone has already nominated Twitter — but it works!

 

•    Best educational wiki
geniushour

Gallit Zvi and Denise Krebs started this wikispaces wiki to guide others in helping students explore their passions and discover their genius.  Learn all about 20% Time and Genius Hour. Find archives of their twitter chat — and join the #geniushour chat on Twitter the first Wednesday of each month at 9 PM Eastern.

•    Best open PD / unconference / webinar series
k12 online

Learn about many new and revised reform and tech topics here — either live or the years of archived presentations. So much to learn; so little time? This is the conference for you ! Free!
•    Best educational use of a social network
Edublog Student Challenge

For anyone who wants students to start blogging, just enter the September and March student blogging challenge. Thousands have created and posted new blogs as a result of this challenge.  Thank you, Edublogs and Sue Wyatt for organizing the Student Blogging Challenges.

•    Best mobile app
Explain Everything

This little app is one powerful app. It’s not free, but worth every penny of its $2.99 price. Great support and learning sites with videos. Works with Google Docs, Evernote, Dropbox, email, YouTube, PhotoRoll. A Mac Desktop version is now available as well. Insert webpages and explain them. Powerful. What’s this app for?  You can Explain Everything clearly and quickly!

• Lifetime Achievement Award

Jerry Blumengarten

Cybraryman: Read all about him here.  Without his webpage resources, where would twitter be?  He started the #edchat hashtag and the twitterverse has never been the same. Thank you, Jerry Blumengarten.

I’d like to thank all of these inspiring educators, you deserve an apple every day!

After the nominees are selected, please vote — you can vote once a day until the voting window closes.  Check Edublogs community for more information.

What are your nominations?

6 Comments

on “Edublog Nominations
6 Comments on “Edublog Nominations
  1. Sheri,

    Thank you so much for putting together this great list and for nominating our GeniusHour wiki!
    It is an honour four our wiki to be nominated alongside all these fantastic educators 🙂

    I will go through your whole list…can’t wait to read more about everyone!

    Thanks again,
    Gallit

    • Gallit, I have learned and continue to learn much from you. The GeniusHour wiki is such a great resource and thanks to you and Denise, the idea is spreading! Kudos to you and Denise! Sheri

  2. Dear Sheri,
    Your comprehensive post is amazing. As Tracy said, thank you for sharing many great resources I didn’t even know about. Our possibilities in this connected world are never-ending, aren’t they? I will take time soon to check out all the resources, but for now, I want to say thank you for the nominations for our Krebs’ Class Blog and the Genius Hour wiki. How fun is that?

    I’m sorry I wasn’t able to participate in nominations this year. Thank you, friend,
    Denise

    • Hi Denise,
      I know that your world has been hectic with changes and even loss. I hope that part of your journey now is to continue to spread the word about Genius Hour, and your passion for excellent literature, especially for children. I depend on you for such info and energy! Congrats, Friend. Sheri

  3. Dear Sheri,

    Thank you so much for your kind words. It’s an honor to be nominated, especially amongst this list of fabulous educators. I’ve added all of to my reader that weren’t already there. Thank you for expanding my learning by introducing me to great resources and fabulous educators through your nominations. I am always learning from you, Sheri, thanks so much for all you do.

    Kind regards,
    Tracy

    • Tracy, I love reviewing the work of people in my PLN, and also linking to new bloggers from those. I always find such interesting links and information from your work and am so glad to have “met” you in this sphere called the web. Looking forward to more! Sheri

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