Educational Blog - Review #1

July 4, 2011

Website http://mrrobson23.blogspot.com/

I thought I would review this education blog first since I know this teacher from the board that I teach in. Rob is great with technology and has been developing his blog for a little over a year. If I had any questions about tech in the classroom he would be the first person I would try to get a hold of.

His blog is very well laid out and although he has posted over 150 times to his site I really like that it only loads up four or five of his most recent posts. He has geared his site to appeal to both students and educators. This is great because I would imagine most sites are just geared for one or the other.

His title gives a synopsis of what you can expect when visiting his site. “A collection of educational articles, ideas, and websites relevant to Kindergarten to grade eight classrooms”.

Rob tries to find websites that will be engaging to students and facilitate learning. One typing website that he reviews for his May 5, 2011 post is called “dance mat” typing. His caption for this site; “This is a fun website with animation and games to help students aged 7 to 11 to learn the right way to type. Say no to "chicken peck" (one finger typing) :)”. I have seen students in many schools use this website for practicing their keyboarding and students truly enjoy this time. The website is musical, colourful, and humorous which manages to keep students engaged while working on an essential skill for the world we live in.

If you click on the tab near the top of his page that reads “for educators” you will come to a list of posts that provide resources to teachers. Rob recently taught a workshop on smart boards and has posted the handout he created for the presentation. In another post Rob mentions bitstrips for schools, which I have seen used effectively in the classroom. Bitstrips allow the student to create their own comics while allowing their fellow to students to see their work, and for the teacher to moderate through their own account.

A school that I taught in this year for a short period is doing a pilot project using google docs. Rob reviews google docs briefly in his blog and mentions some of the appeal of using this in a classroom setting. This would allow for students to access school work independent of a school network of computers. You could access your work, instructions, schedules from home with a computer and an internet connection.

Overall, I think this education blog is well worth checking out. I think it is a great way for a teacher to provide students with fun, educational resources throughout the school year. It is also a great way for teachers to share great ideas and learn from each other.