Sunday, February 8, 2009

Do I get Extra Credit for all the Blogs I Read?

I probably spend too much time cruising through various blogs and websites, or linking them to my iGoogle and multitude of blogs, but to be fair most of them do relate to education. I have found a wealth of practical knowledge and advice as well as lesson plans and classroom management tools, and although I may never be in the same half of the U.S., let alone the same school district, as some of the people I read, there is a sense of communication and community that many feel is integral to becoming a complete educator.

But sometimes I realize an hour has gone by and because I haven't completed a chapter in a text book or written a full page of an assignment, I feel as if I've wasted time (yet again)-- are blogs merely empty calories? Is online information the same as grabbing US magazine instead of a literacy assessment guide? Is it all attractive colors and fonts, and the ease of reading without truly digesting (as well as the convenience of being able to click back and forth between Facebook and LibraryThing) that lends itself to going online rather than cracking the spine on a textbook?

Anyway, saw this excellent post on The Cornerstone Blog regarding testing and how to help students (and teachers) survive with wits intact...

4 comments:

TeachEnEspanol said...

Thanks for posting that link! I'm really excited to try some of that testing stuff out. And I'm relatively new to this blog thing but it has absolutely revolutionized the way that I teach and even the things I think about while I'm teaching (I turn my situation into a blog in my head either to provide help or solicit it). You are absolutely right about the importance of community.

Angela Watson said...

Thanks for the link. I was excited to discover your blog, too!

You may want to check out a post I wrote about a week ago called The Internet vs. "Real Reading". I've been feeling exactly you have...like, what is wrong with my attention span that I only want to read online? And why am I so bothered by own reading habits?

You're definitely not alone on that one. :-)

Kevin Bibo said...

Balance is important and there is TONS of great published teacher stuff out there. But the web is important too because it's the "here and now" of life, not just teaching. So, yea, I'd at least give you extra credit for blog time.

Mr. Nauton said...

One big advantage the web has over books is that the the pages don't usually answer back -- Thank you all so very much for your support!