Blogging About Blogs

I have been a fan of blogs and blogging for many years now.  Personally, I first started a blog to keep friends and family updated on my travels when I have spent longer amounts of time abroad.  I decided to keep my blog going to show glimpses of my life for my friends and family who are spread out around the globe.  In the classroom, I have been blogging with my upper-level French students for two years now.  For now, we are using the blog as a way to post weekly responses/reflections to the topic we are studying that week.  Like any technology project, I have found it is best to start small, and grow from there as both the teacher and the students feel comfortable with the technology and make it part of their weekly routine.  I see potential to keep growing my class blog and am looking forward to incorporating ways to make it more interactive.

In the courses I am currently taking myself, we are also blogging (obviously) and following blogs that are relevant to our profession.  To be honest, I have never followed education blogs (I prefer food blogs).  When I first started teaching 12 years ago, I also kept going to school for about the first 8 years, whew!  I think I just got burned out on going to school.  Now that I have had a nice 4 year break, I definitely see and feel the need to continue to find ways to grow professionally.  Educational blogs are a great way to keep up-to-date on new ideas and best practices!

One blog I have enjoyed reading is the Cool Cat Teacher Blog.  The author, Vicki Davis, is a tech savvy educator who shares her passion for teaching and technology through her blog.  The June 5th post about being a geek made me laugh.  I too label myself as a geek!  I'm glad to see I'm not alone, and that it is indeed cool to be geeky.

Seeing that we all just finished up another school year, I appreciated another one of Ms. Davis' posts about ending the school year positively.  I felt like this post had good perspective and I wish I would have read it 3 days ago!  I think I would have ended the school year on a better note.  So, as a reminder, here is a to-do list for myself for next year, summarized from this post:
 End Of School Year Checklist for Mrs. Thompson
1.  Take the time to comment on student's report cards, no matter how much you want to just hit that 'Post Grades' button.
2.  Say THANK YOU.
3.  Remember people you see everyday, but might not speak with often.  (Custodians, lunchroom staff...)
4.   Leave the students with a positive message and remind them they are great young adults.
5.  Leave classroom better than you found it.
6.  "Sprint to the finish line!"  Keep an active and exciting classroom until the last bell of the last day.

And you, how did you wrap up your school year?  Do you agree with her advice?  Do you have any tips to add?

I look forward to reading more educational blogs, as well as my classmates' postings.  Please see my blog list on the right to follow these blogs yourself!