Our 2013 EduBlog Nominees
By John Norton & Susan Curtis
Here are our nominees for the 2013 EduBlog Awards. In keeping with the spirit of the awards program — which began as an effort to show decision-makers that blogs and wikis could be educational (really!) — we’re defining “best” as among the “especially interesting and attention-worthy.”
Best individual blog
The Tempered Radical – Written by sixth grade teacher Bill Ferriter, The Tempered Radical has been going strong for over six years. As part of the Radical’s long-time audience, we’ve watched Ferriter develop as a techy teacher, transparent learner, PLC leader, published author & public speaker, and persistent advocate for the teaching profession. Always lively, often provocative – and still bringing it straight from the classroom.
Best group blog
KQED’s MindShift – Editor Tina Barseghian and regulars Katrina Schwartz, Holly Korbey and Annie Murphy Paul along with guest writers bring up-to-the-moment news on games and learning, teaching strategies, children’s interaction with media (and more) to teachers and parents.
Best new blog
Future of History – Launched in June 2013, it’s the oldest of the 2013-launched blogs hosted by MiddleWeb, so it has the longest track record. Great ideas for social studies teachers, from both public and private school teachers.
Best class blog
Ms. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog – Kathy Cassidy’s first graders are not in MIddleWeb’s usual middle grades spotlight, but their group blog is a heck of a model… with students filling their blogs with images, video and a few words. We know for a fact they do this themselves. So we bet your grades 4-8 kids can!
Best student blog
Mrs. Ripp’s Class – Pernille Ripp assures us that her 5th grade students write everything here. And it’s great stuff!
Best ed tech / resource sharing blog
Hack Education – Visit freelance writer Audrey Watters for ed tech news and overviews.
Best teacher blog
Kevin’s Meandering Mind – For fun and games and right-on education featuring sixth graders, visit Kevin Hodgson. His cartoons are a bonus. You never know what you’ll find!
Best library / librarian blog
Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything – Who needs a reference desk with Kathy Schrock’s tech and ed guide just a click away (asks MiddleWeb’s librarian). Is it a blog? At least!
Best administrator blog
Finding Common Ground – Award winning K-5 principal Peter DeWitt shares observations from the classroom to the statehouse in his Education Week hosted blog. And his school includes our upper elementary grades (4-5)!
Most influential blog post of the year
Elizabeth Stein – “Building Strong Co-Teaching Relationships from the Start” – We have some data to offer: this article at Elizabeth Stein’s Two Teachers in the Room blog (which we host on our site) has had more than 6500 reads (and 38 comments) since it was posted on August 11. Most influential? It was to the thousands of co-teachers who read it.
Best individual tweeter
@Larryferlazzo – If you think Larry Ferlazzo is a prodigious resource collector at his Websites of the Day… try keeping up with him on Twitter. He rules the ed Twitter-verse and has a day job. Teaching high school.
Best twitter hashtag
#educoach – Great PD ideas by and for instructional coaches – and the educators they serve. Nice people to hang out with.
Best free web tool
ThingLink – Need a quick way to make images interactive? ThingLink makes it easy.
Best educational use of audio / video / visual / podcast
Free Technology for Teachers – Richard Byrne not only keeps educators up to date on ed tech, he also shows how it’s done with videos, podcasts, and lots of slide shows.
Best educational wiki
Edcamp – Find everything you need to stage an edcamp and links to edcamps past and future. Don’t know what an Edcamp is? You’ve heard of antimatter – this is “anti-staff development.”
Best open PD / unconference / webinar series
The Teaching Channel – See teachers in action for just about any age and content combination. Remember when we dreamed there would be real teacher TV?
Best educational use of a social network
English Companion NING – “Where English teachers go to help each other,” created by Jim Burke and recognized by the experts.
Best mobile app
Dropbox – Day in, day out, as we frequently say: “Oh yeah – Dropbox!” Phone, tablet, laptop, tricorder – you’re connected.
Lifetime achievement
Diane Ravitch – Education historian turned rabble-rouser, in the best tradition of “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
Hey Guys,
Sorry that it took me so long to see this! I’ve been buried for the better part of the past month. I guess that’s the holidays for you.
I really appreciate your nomination. More importantly, I appreciate your constant support and cheerleading over the past six years. Every time that I stop by, I learn something — and every time that you celebrate something that I’ve done, I beam.
You matter to me,
Bill