Educator Blogs

Educator blogs are created with the educator in mind, filled with inspiration and motivation to help you become the very best teacher librarian around.  It is seldom that I visit an educator blog and find nothing that interests me.  In fact, I have found so much that interests me in these blogs that I’m having a hard time narrowing down what to share. The purpose of all three of these blogs is to inspire you to learn, be resourceful and teach to your potential.  Each of these sites has a unique style and presentation but all are wonderful in their own way. One of the important things to remember about a blog is it interactive by nature. As Eide explains in the article, Brain of the Blogger, the blogger writes the post but the visitor must read the posting rather than just viewing it. A visitor often responds to the post and sometimes views further posts and links by the same blogger and others.

The first site is probably my favorite, The Daring Librarian.  The author Gwyneth Jones has many sites and blogs but this one is specifically directed towards helping teacher librarians up their game in the tech world.  Her style is fun and snarky, with many references to popular topics held near dear to adult nerds and middle school students such as Dr. Who, Star Wars and Pokemon.  The most recent post is from  September 25 and covers an entire segment on Pokemon Go!.  This post talks about how popular the game  has become and how motivating it is to get out and walk.  She also talks about how students are motivated by such games and she takes you step by step how to set up a QR scavenger hunt in your library using Pokemon Go as your theme.  She has included links to everything needed to create your own, including CC permissions to edit her work.  The entire blog is full of resources and ideas, including Why Blog? which gives you lots of tips on being a successful blogger.  That just might come in handy as we begin this blogging adventure.  I absolutely adore the visuals of this site but I could see that it might also be overwhelming if this is your first time visiting a blog. This is definitely a blog I would recommend to my teacher library friends who are tech savvy as well as to those who want to be.

The next blog is Kathy Schrock’s Kaffeeklatsch which features great tech to use in the classroom.  Not only does Kathy give great ideas, she provides a ton of links to actual products, apps and software to make all this technology come together.  Kathy also has another blog at Discovery Education.  One of my favorite recent post is Stop Motion Animation in the Classroom which provides details and resources for teaching students art of stop motion.  Personally, I would love to have this in a Maker Space eventually with Legos or puzzles for students to be able to create their own videos. I can only imagine what they might come up with!  Kathy’s blogs and website are truly a masterful collection of technology and it’s many uses.  While this site does not cater specifically to teacher librarians, there is a great deal to explore here.  Just check out the tags available to research.

The final educators blog I selected  is very specifically for teacher librarians and teachers who are really ready to take on 21st Learning, Future Ready Reflections. The most recent post on this blog is about EdCamp which is something that I am interested in attending in the near future.  Shawna Ford talks about her experiences at a technology workshop that is held on a Saturday so teachers who are interested, gather to learn, experience and share.  This sounds so much different than other professional development days when some people have no interest and really aren’t supportive of those who have genuine interest. Another great post on this blog was What Happens When We Empower Teachers? I love the idea of saying “Yes” when approached with an idea from a colleague or a student.  Of course, we can.  Let’s figure out a way. So much more motivating than “Yes, but first…”.

I highly recommend these blogs and encourage you to find others that suit your needs and preferences.  Not all blogs are created equal but there is definitely a blog out there for everyone.