Blog 1: Never Ending Search : eCatalog Central redux?

Joyce Valenza is a library guru, yet she writes as if she’s sitting there talking with you in person, which is nice. I frequent this site for lots of tasty tidbits in the library world,  and I found the posting interesting. I would, indeed, love a central catalog instead of all things library instead of wasting an entire shelf in my office with catalogs.

Blog 2: Dy/Dan: Why I don’t assign homework

This was interesting; another conversational post. I can see his point, and as a former classroom teacher, I have seen the same results. However, one way that I did homework, was to assign one subject per night, and assign it only when truly needed. It’s a wily subject, one that I’m glad I’m not dealing with now that I’ve made the switch to a media specialist.

Blog 3:  Mrs. Edminson’s class : Questions for one of our favorite authors: Grace Lin

This was different from the others because it is written from the perspective of third graders. I thought this was a good use of a blog and honestly was surprised that the author replied. I’d like to look at this blog in more detail later.

Blog 4: Duck with a blog: 2nd graders write about our missing duck

This blog took a simple event (a duck making a nest on their school’s playground) and made it into a writing opportunity. Great idea! I like the use of a blog for the students to practice their creative writing to guess where their playground duck has gone. Cute.

Blog 5:  Mark’s edtechblog: Is this SSR, 2.0?

This is definitely something to think about. It is easier sometimes to read online, but other times it is not. I think it depends on what your purpose for reading is, which reminds me of the IPICK lesson I did with 1st graders.  The P stood for “purpose,” which usually is either for fun or to learn. I would classify most of my blog reading as learning, and most of my fun reading is done with an actual book in my hand. Of course, I read books for my position as a media specialist, which technically is learning, but it seems more like fun. I think explaining the purpose when using blogs in the classroom would be helpful for students, just like the purpose for choosing books.