Ontario Edu-Bloggers are Quote Worthy

As lifelong learners, educators are often quick to quote published authors, and keynote speakers, even though there are other, more local voices, worthy of attention and recognition. Take a moment to consider adding an Ontario educator to the mix of your daily reading, and I think you'll find many of my edu-blogging peers to be just as quote-worthy!

* These edu-bloggers produce content on their own time. Although I've referenced their home school boards, the work of these authors may not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of their employers.


Consultants & Special Assignment Teachers

Barbara McLaughlin Ottawa-Carleton DSB
Reflective Leadings community - connecting - curriculum
@barbaram

Susan Lister (on International Contracts)
Technology Enhanced Learning technology - enhanced - learning
@slister

Shelley Pike Greater Essex Catholic DSB
Math Coaching math - sharing - support
@shelpike

Kent Manning Hastings and Prince Edward DSB
Motivating Boy Writers boys - writing - motivating
The View From Here my - personal - blog
Manning's Message creating - media - texts
Screencast.ca screencasts - teachers - students
@kentmanning

Colin Jagoe Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB
Jagoe.ca education - science - technology
@colinjagoe

Ben Hazzard Lambton-Kent DSB
Learning , Together education - archive - digitalfootprint
@benhazzard

Jaclyn Calder Simcoe County DSB
Ramblings change - learning - community
@jaccalder

Zoe Branigan-Pipe Hamilton Wentworth DSB
Pipe Dreams education - leadership - reform
@zbpipe

Aaron Puley Hamilton Wentworth DSB
Blogg'u'ca'tion 2 education - technology - innovation
@misterpuley


K-12 Teachers

Aviva Dunsinger Hamilton-Wentworth DSB
A Primary Blog For The 21st Century technology - primary - education
@grade1

Melanie McBride Toronto DSB
Melanie McBride researcher - critical - pedagogy
@melaniemcbride

Heather Durnin Avon Maitland DSB
Mrs. D.'s Flight Plan collaboration - technology - middle school
@hdurnin

Andrew Forgrave Hastings and Prince Edward DSB
edVisioned.ca learning - change - technology
@aforgrave

Danika Barker Thames Valley DSB
The Barker Blog literacy - technology - reflection
@danikabarker

Dave Lanovaz Huron-Perth Catholic DSB
Sine of the Times math - math - math
@DaveLanovaz

Steve McCallum Near North DSB
Prosperos Desk community pd - reading - technology
@ProsperosDesk

Jean-Louis Bontront Greater Essex Catholic DSB
What's in my head, and sometimes bounces out collaboration - jokes - chemistry
@jeanbont

Peter McAsh Avon Maitland DSB
Mr. McAsh's Blog web2.o - computers - innovation
@pmcash

Nathan Toft and Jane Smith Ottawa-Carleton DSB
Portable PD podcasting - conversation - PD
@ntoft

Rodd Lucier London District Catholic SB
The Clever Sheep collaboration - creative commons - design
@thecleversheep


Principals, Vice-Principals and Administrators

Shannon Smith Ottawa-Carleton DSB
Shannon in Ottawa lead - learn - reflect
@shannoninottawa

Lisa Neale Hamilton Wentworth DSB
Lisa Learning learning - leadership - technology
@lisaneale

Mark Carbone Waterloo Region DSB
Mark's Musings ICT - learning - personal
@markcarbone

Rob De Lorenzo Toronto Catholic DSB
The Mobile Learner mobile - devices - classroom
@rdelorenzo


Trustees, Parents & Retired Educators

Robert Hunking Avon Maitland DSB
My Path of Learning community - trustee - learning
@yesknowno

Doug Peterson Sessional Professor, University of Windsor
Off the Record personal - digital - footprint
@dougpete


When time allows, it would be great if you could support these reflective learners by leaving a comment on post that informs you; inspires you; or challenges you. If you know of other Ontario Edu-bloggers who should be included on this list, take the time to share details, and I'll do my best to update this post.


Photo Credit: torres21

Teaching Them to Teach Themselves

By now most people are very familiar with the way that metadata tags are "Teaching the Machine". What is less commonly understood, is how tags can be leveraged to engage students in "Teaching Themselves".


Assuming that a teacher can create a unique identifier for a class or course (i.e., Lucier_physics_2008 or LucierSPH08-unit5), there are many ways to engage your students in the gathering of teaching and learning resources.

1] Invite students to post and tag Flickr images that match with concepts taught in class. Students might also add comments to existing photos.

2] Encourage students to share bookmarks on Delicious, Diigo or Furl. Link to videos, blog posts, photos, songs...

3] Promote the use of reflective journals in the form of blog entries that use the course identifier as a keyword or tag.

4] Add comments to blog posts that include your course identifier. While linking to rich thinking, you can model how learners might participate in educational dialogue within the blogosphere.

5] Demonstrate how comments can be added to YouTube or TeacherTube videos. "This video would be great for my LucierSPH08 course!"

6] Set up a Custom Search Engine to search specific sites for course-matching content. Tag the best of the best with your course/class code.

7] Add custom sections to a personalized news page. Consider simplifying the process by sending the RSS feed to Google Reader or another aggregator.

8] Demonstrate how to search blog entries for topical materials. Send custom searches to your feed aggregator for filtering.

9] Tag selected educational and current events podcasts. Many post-secondary institutions like Berkeley, Stanford, Yale, Penn State, Texas A&M, Duke, Queens, MIT offer access to lectures and other content. Consider subscribing to a few of the many terrific free podcasts available on iTunes. Shameless plug: Have you heard the Teacher 2.0 Podcast?

10] The advanced step: Set up live feeds to various content sources by aggregating tagged content to a community location by using a tool like PageFlakes or iGoogle.

Before launching such a social learning project with students, be sure to demonstrate the power of resource sharing by pre-tagging numerous resources specific to your course. A live demo using your course keyword should go a ways towards whetting the appetite of your students.

Who knows, by opening this conversation about sharing, you might even learn a few search tricks from your students! The video below by Jimmy Ruska, demonstrates what some students already know about effective searches for complimentary material, be it for music or university textbook content.




Photo Credit: Maureen Flynn-Burhoe