With the internet as cast and ever changing as it is, it becomes hard to sort through the trash so to speak. A lot of the media we are blasted with on a day to day basis is well... less than helpful so to speak. I have found some great blogs and bloggers that stand out against the mess and have appeared to me as a beacon of hope. Edutopia, Learning Spy and the Cult of Pedagogy are standouts to me specifically because they all cover a very vast array of aspects. Edutopia is thriving with community engagement and collaboration. David Didau, who leads Learning Spy, captivates you just from his personal advice and experiences. While the Cult of Pedagogy is able to tackle deep rooted personal and systemic issues in both text and podcast form!
A post from Sarah Kesty on Edutopia titled "3 ways to help students learn from their tests", explores the function of testing a means of facilitating learning instead of just assessing it. Another post useful in exemplifying
the range of Edutopia is Crystal Frommert's
post "A Classroom Culture Build on Trust". This post is aimed at educating and informing people of the importance of trust within a classroom community, which is a stark
difference from Sarah Kesty's tricks for better learning from tests. These two posts demonstrate the variation that becomes available when you interact with an active community like Edutopia.
Learning Spy gives you a different experience than that of Edutopia. This is because all posts are from a single individual, David Didau, allowing his give you more of a personal connection. His posts "Teacher-Led vs Student-led Lesson Activities" and "The Problem with Marking and How to Solve it", give friendly, down-to-Earth advice on aspects of teaching that are effecting the current education system.
The last but definitely not least blog in my top 3 is the Cult of Pedagogy. I really enjoy this blog because it covers aspects of teaching that are harder to approach. It covers topical issues that are highly controversial and debated like this post from Jennifer Gonzalez " Where to Find Real History in the Anti-CRT Era". Many posts also cover broader topics that uncover larger systemic issues like Hedriech Nichols' post "Uncovering Your Implicit Biases: an Exercise for Teachers".
These blogs/bloggers have reached my top 3 for very different reasons. Each of them brings different perspectives to the table and each provides very different tips and advice. When scouring the internet for blogs, it is often difficult to sort through them. This is still true even for educational blogs as not every one will be suitable, entertaining or captivating to you. However, that is precisely the reason why creating a network of blogs within the educational community works so well! Every person's tastes are different and everyone can find something they are interested in!
Hi Shalayna,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on some educational blogs! Have you ever considered having a full-time blog before? I agree that it is very hard to look through all the posts and blogs and find some that are worth reading. However, I am curious to check out these blogs that you've suggested! Edutopia is one of my favourites, but the other two you shared about are new to me. I can relate to Learning Spy because as you mentioned it is down to earth and makes personal connections. Those are the kind of blogs that get my attention.
Thanks for the post! I enjoyed it!
Lynnea R.
Shalayna,
First I want to applaud you on the way you brought to light your educational blogs and bloggers it really drew me in as a reader which is something that I myself struggle with. I really appreciate you giving multiple blogs from each resource and briefly describing them. Another thing that I really enjoys is your bolding of key terms to define each resource. It really helps for me to understand what each blog revolves around so that I can look back on each blog for specific things that I may be looking for when conducting research or looking for a specific type of community to communicate with. From reading your introduction to blogging and then reading your second…