Education Based Blogs

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/school_law/
Being a future Social Studies teacher it should be no surprise that I am attracted to a the School Law blog from Education Week that tracks the decisions of the United States Supreme Court and discusses their impact on students.  On the first page alone they address the issue of Immigration Reform , life without parole for convicted juvenile murderers and public sector unions.  This blog just further entrenches my belief that politics matter.  Whether right or wrong who is in office decides who sites on the Supreme Court and while states do have the right to work outside of what is outlined for the federal government per the 10th Amendment to the Constitution many controversial state laws that impact our students lives end up being decided by the US Supreme Court.  As a citizen of the United States, I feel it is important to keep up on what our elected officials are doing and how their laws impact our lives directly.

http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/
Admittedly, the first thing that attracted me to this blog was the name Dangerously Irrelevant and after reading the first few postings I began to understand the name and appreciate it even more.  It has to do with our everyday lives and little things people do that go unnoticed, changes politicians make that go unnoticed or even just something someone says that goes unnoticed yet all these unnoticed or irrelevant things have meanings and consequences.  Whether the blog is pointing out token gestures that mean nothing but should (like honoring soldiers) or little things no one pays attention to that matter (like the Texas Republican Party platform opposing Higher Order Thinking Skills in schools) it is calling to attention the fact that we need to pay more attention to what is going on around us.

http://www.edtechpost.ca/wordpress/
What drew me into Wordpress was it's simplistic, down to earth style when writing about technology and how children and students can use it.  It embodies what I think of as a blog in the sense that it is just someone putting their voice out there to be heard.  The author discusses new online editing tools, web-based programs, eBooks, open textbooks, and the experiences of their students interactions with technology in a way that any reader could understand.  It is not overly analytic or tech savvy even though technology is one of it's focuses.  In short, it was user friendly and readable which was a nice break after School Law.

Other blogs I checked out:

http://www.joannejacobs.com/
http://www.quickanded.com/
http://gothamschools.org/
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/
http://www.ictineducation.org/

Definitions

2 Cents worth:  Put simply my 2 cents worth is my opinion on any given matter that I am discussing with someone else.  My 2 cents can either be credible if the topic is something on which I am a trusted and reliable authority on the matter or it can be a random comment on a matter than I have no background information on but am throwing my 2 cents nonetheless.  

Blogging:  What I am doing right now.  Putting my words on the internet in some form or another.  Blogging can take nearly any form and cover any topic so long as it is posted online and in essence most blogs are just someone putting their two cents on any given topic of their choosing on the internet.

Blogger:  That would be me.  Hello, I'm a blogger now and as I've previously stated a blogger is simply someone writing on the internet.

Feed Reader:  A feed reader is an updater that feeds you new postings from web pages that you are subscribed to.  These tools save you time by alerting you when new information is posted so you don't have to search each individual website for new information.