BP_Diigo Group

A screen shot of my diigo group.

  

This is a screen shot of my diigo page. I certainly do love me some diigo. I certainly love how I can annotate passages right on the web page and share with everyone in my group. At this point I've only invited my critical friends to join my group. They are wondering at what point they will become part of the process. Next week I am going to ask each of the members of my critical friends group to choose one of the sources I've posted to give feedback about it. 

BP2_iGoogleScreenShots

Screen shot of my Home Tab

 

 

Screen shot of my FSO Tab

Screen shot of my AR/CBL Tab

Screen shot of my ETC Tab

BP1_GoogleReader

Creative Commons Generic Attribution 2.0

Downloaded from Flickr, courtesy of cambodia4kidsorg

Blogging. Oh how I've really missed you. I think this month will really fit me like a glove, as even though I don't blog as often as I used to (and I should) I try to keep up with the blogs that are out there, especially the ones that I've been reading for years.

For this first assignment, I am to choose 5 RSS feeds of blogs and add them to my google reader. I'm a tech snob, so I'm not really a big fan of google reader as my aggregator. But, in the interest of getting a decent grade on assignments, I will do what needs to be done. If anything, it will keep me to following the directions.

It was a difficult decision to trim down my netvibes aggregators 45 feeds down to 5. Unfortunately, I couldn't just pick 5 to put in my google reader. I think I ended up adding 12 feeds. Which is ok in my opinion, because they are all very solid bloggers, with views on education that I fundamentally agree with. There was one criteria that I did have though, everyone on the list that I chose I have met face to face at FETC, ISTE or an EdTech Forum.

So here goes with my list:

1. A Geeky Momma's Blog - (http://macmomma.blogspot.com/) Lee Kolbert (Twitter: @Teachakidd) is a teacher down in the Palm Beach County School District. I've also had the pleasure of working closely with Lee on the Discovery Educator Network Florida Leadership Council over the last three years. One of Lee's areas of expertise is social networking and web 2.0 applications. I thought it would be a great idea to add her to this group of blogs in my PLE google reader for that very reason. 
2. Cool Cat Teacher Blog - (http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/) Vicki Davis is an educator out of Camilla, Georgia. I remember meeting Vicki for the first time at the NECC conference in Atlanta, GA back in 2006. She is one of the most humble people I've encountered while attending state and national conferences. With her expertise in connecting students from across the globe using Web 2.0 tools in projects like the Flat Classroom and Horizons project being added to my list of 5 for this month's class was an easy decision. Vicki's The Web 2.0 Classroom was one of our choices to use for our literature review during Month 1 MLR. When I told her that she mentioned that it put a big smile on her face. 
3. Practical Theory - (http://practicaltheory.org/serendipity/) Practical Theory is authored by Chris Lehmann. Chris is the principal of the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) in Philadelphia, PA, a school that uses project/inquiry based learning (PBL) to prepare students for the skills they need for college. When I think of what ALL schools should look like, I think of SLA. Chris blogs about what his vision of educational reform would look like. He also mixes in stories about successful learning and reflective practices that are happening at his school. Every time I see Chris, I usually ask him if I can bottle up just a little bit of him to bring back home with me. There are some administrators who think they get what the power of PBL and technology can bring. But Chris is one who certainly understands it.
4. 2¢ Worth - (http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/) What would a blog list be without David Warlick? Each time I hit a conference, be it TechForum Orlando a few years ago or ISTE/NECC conference, I make it a point to either sit in on one of his sessions or talk with him in the Blogger's Cafe in the hallways. Warlick is a dynamic speaker, one that I've used as a template for professional development sessions that I give. His posts on his blog range from random thoughts about his travels, educational reform, and sometimes sharing a neat trick or two that can be used in a classroom. Many of David's posts were springboards for some of my posts back when I was blogging on a more consistent basis. One thing about much of what he writes is that it definitely makes you think, and draw your own conclusions.
5. Teach42 - (http://www.teach42.com) In my right mind I could never have a list of blogs and not add Steve Dembo's blog. Steve is the online community manager for the Discovery Education's Discovery Educator Network. If anyone asks him what that means his general answer would be that he gets to play with a lot of toys and share his thoughts about it to others. His focus is on sharing new 21st Century technologies to increase student learning and engagement. He shares his insights on what web 2.0 tools work, as well as those that fail to meet the muster.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post. It was difficult to shave down a large list of blogs that I read to five. In my opinion, these five blogs are must reads for educators looking to gain knowledge and understanding of 21st Century learning. As an added bonus though, I'm adding an almost made the cut list. Just to be fair.

• Bud the Teacher - http://budtheteacher.com/blog/ (Bud Hunt)
• Drape's Takes - http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/ (Darren Draper)
• Moving at the Speed of Creativity - http://www.speedofcreativity.org/ (Wes Fryer)
• The Thinking Stick - http://www.thethinkingstick.com/ (Jeff Utecht)
• Weblogg-ed - http://weblogg-ed.com/ (Will Richardson)

Welcome Post

This is simply a post to test out the wysiwyg posting platform. Although I'm quite used to using edublogs.org I am guessing I will have to use this platform so as to follow guidelines.