My Nominations for Edublog Awards 2013 #eddies13

I am no good at these things because I basically want to write:

“I nominate everyone.”

I will take a stab though at nominating some people, posts, and sites that I have found helpful and inspirational this past year for the 2013 Edublog Awards. The worst part is that for every category there are about 200 other nominations I want to include as well.  My apologizes in advance as I fumble my way through this.

If you would like to make your own nominations

Just write a post like this one thru tomorrow, December 1st. Then go here for full directions on how to submit your post full of nominations for consideration.  There are so many categories (I’ve left them all below so you can see them) yet no one seems to include them all in their posts, so only nominate those you feel compelled to.

Social media hugs to all!

My Nominations

• Best individual blog – To Make a Prairie (Vicki Vinton). Always timely and thoughtful, but what really gets me is how gorgeously written and heartfelt each entry is. Inspirational in form and substance.
• Best group blog – The Nerdy Book Club. Of course. Thanks for raising the flag for children, adults, and why we choose to teach.
• Best new blog
• Best class blog
• Best student blog
• Best ed tech / resource sharing blog
• Best teacher blog – Matt Gomez always impresses me. His ideas stretch well beyond Kindergarten, though I am so happy he is in the world with such a huge belief in the complex minds and lives of our little ones (I think if he and @MrazKristine were ever to meet 5 year olds would take over the world with brilliance. It’s a secret wish). 
• Best library / librarian blog
• Best administrator blog
• Most influential blog post of the year – Note, I am totally biased on this one, Kate is my close friend, co-author, and all around rock. That said, “A Day in the Life of a Close Reader” on KateAndMaggie.com is one of my favs of the year, not only is it a message we all need but it’s heartfelt, well written, and is still stuck in my mind (Yuppy Puppy, Hutch, and that personal calendar). 
• Best individual tweeter – I want to be @maureenjohnson when I grow up.
• Best twitter hashtag – I love lots of things, I also love #engchat. (And zombies, but that’s not for here.)
• Best free web tool – I’m loving Triberr.com (thanks to @KleinErin!)
• Best educational use of audio / video / visual / podcast
• Best educational wiki
• Best open PD / unconference / webinar series
• Best educational use of a social network
• Best mobile app – Twitter, which I know, is like saying “air is good,” but it is the most thumb-pressed app on my phone.
  
• Lifetime achievement – Larry Ferlazzo. I don’t know what constitutes lifetime, but Larry does it all and does it all very well.

Happy nominating!    I’m late to the game, so remember you have through tomorrow, December 1st to post yours. More info at Edublogs.

A Must Read from Scott Rocco

Scott Rocco is co-moderator of what is fast becoming one of my favorite chats (even despite the fact that it is at the bitter early morning hour of 7:30AM Saturday… though does repeat on West Coast time at 7:30 PST.  So, technically there are no excuses for an East Coaster like me).

What I find so appealing about #satchat is not just that it is a group of [mostly] educational administrators using their weekend morning hours to talk more education, but that it has become a place for extremely positive and uplifting problem solving.  This past Saturday, for example the topic was:

WELCOME TO #satchat. Topic: Recognizing students & staff. Your moderators: @scottrrocco @bcurrie5 @wkrackower

— Scott Rocco (@ScottRRocco) October 6, 2012

A morning spent considering ways of recognizing teachers and students?  Lead by administrators?  It’s better than coffee… a point I think I make every #satchat I am able to join. It truly is a jolt of energy at the end of the week, just read the #satchat archives for examples.  (If you are new to Twitter Chats my how-to tips are here.)

Scott also has a very active blog “Evolving Educators” in which he shares his efforts to support the learning of his staff, peers, as well as his personal ever-evolving instructional practices.  I find his blog just as positive and supportive as the chat he co-leads, woven with a belief in every child and every adult.

• This post on his district’s efforts to embrace tools for being more connected (including tools I only just learned of through this post.)
• This one, his advice to other ed leaders: don’t forget what it was like to be in the classroom.
• Or this, that as I think of all the districts taking on technology initiative feels like perfect timing for thoughtful values to keep in mind.

I’d encourage anyone to join #satchat… yes, even at 7:30AM (I promise you’ll forget what time it is a few minutes in)… and subscribe to Scott Rocco’s Evolving Educators.

Happy evolving!

A Must Read from Matt Renwick

Donalyn Miller just tweeted a post from Principal Matt Renwick, from his blog “Reading By Example”

Swimming Without Water by @howeprincipal wp.me/p1ZBjY-bd <= Kids need to read & write!

— Donalyn Miller (@donalynbooks) September 15, 2012

The particular post is a thoughtful analogy about teaching reading and writing drawn from forgetting his swimsuit and watching his family splash around from the sidelines. A metaphor after my own heart.

Which led me to surf around the rest of his blog and now I’m a subscriber.

I mean…. how awesome is this? (Answer: very awesome).

And this? (Answer: extremely awesome).

A principal that he spends time nearly every day READING to students in classrooms!  And writing all the time!

Inspiring leadership inspires.

A Must Read from Vicki Vinton

I’ve heard so much about Vicki Vinton’s education blog. I’ve loved her other work and today just started following in earnest – and already I’m inspired. In her most recent post she reminds me – though I think all of us in our political world – that the internet is full of educators blogging, tweeting, thinking together. She shows this beautifully by pairing thoughtful prior blog comments with images.

I’m hooked, a subscriber now, consider doing the same.

Here is her post “On Teachers & Learners & the First Day of School”:

http://tomakeaprairie.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/on-teachers-learners-the-first-day-of-school/#comment-523