Paying Homage to my Fellow Bloggers

Greetings EDT 370 Peers,

I have finally arrived at the blog post I have been most excited to write for our unit 1 assignments: researching other educators' blogs! My guilty pleasure is reading educational blog posts about classroom libraries, classroom organization, and brain breaks that I find on Pinterest, and now I get to explore blogs without the nagging thought in the back of my mind that I am procrastinating on my homework and will consequentially fail all of my courses. Thus, without further ado, I would like to present the following educational blogs.

Unleashing Readers: Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsberg are, respectively, middle and high school English teachers who work together to maintain this blog. These two ladies strive to provide teachers with opportunities to use the best pieces of literature in their classrooms by writing book reviews that include story summaries, lists of important quotes, discussion questions, and similar book recommendations.

Two Writing Teachers: What started has two writing teachers quickly escalated into eight writing teachers who collaborate extensively to keep their blog up to date. These bloggers constantly share many best practices in how to teach writing to children including the research behind the strategies highlighted and how they themselves use the strategies in their own teaching.

Backyard Learning: Sarah is a middle school science teacher who focuses on providing teachers and parents alike with educational activities that pull kids away from their screen-time and into nature. Her posts include lesson plans, connecting with nature tips and activities, nature book recommendations, and nature photos.

Mrs. D's Corner: Stephanie is a special education teacher from Texas who believes in teaching from the heart, not the books. Mrs. D posts lesson plan ideas and ways to adapt the lessons to accommodate students with special needs.

Bligon's Best: Bethany Ligon is a technology integration specialist who hopes to inspire other educators to partake in the best practices of the 21st century classroom through her blog posts. She frequently posts about her findings from professional developments she attends, blogs she follows, and books she reads.

Mr. Histoire: Toby French is a history teacher who frequently blogs about everything and anything to do with education. His stories frequently contain conversations he has had with his students, coworkers, and family members, making his posts humorous, relatable, and informative.

Mrs. Russell's Room: Tamara Russell is a first grade teacher in Florida that not only blogs about her teaching tips, but also constructively shares her thoughts about current issues in education. Her posts contain many pictures of her students completing the activities she blogs about, making it easy for teacher to visualize how they can use the lessons in their own classrooms as well.

The Shut Down Learner: Dr. Richard Selznick frequently blogs about dyslexia, learning disabilities, special education, and many other issues related to education. His blog is easy to navigate, allowing readers to search his posts by educational topic or most recently posted articles. Readers may also sign up to receive his blog posts via email.

Differentiation Station: Laura Schachter's main goal, when she is teaching, is to have her students forget that they are learning and are simply having fun. She creates and posts about many activities that can be used in classroom centers that supplement important lessons for struggling students.

The Thinker Builder: Michael is an elementary school teacher who hopes, through his blog, to help his fellow teachers "build readers and writers who think boldly and deeply." He posts lesson plan ideas, classroom library resources, and community building activities that can easily be adapted for many different grade levels.

Resourceful Individuals to Follow on Social Media

Welcome back, everyone!

Social media has taken the world by a storm, and although I usually feel like I am one of the last people on earth to sign up for trending media platforms, I have found them to be very beneficial as I search for my daily bout of inspiration. Plus they are easy to use! Below you will find a screenshot of me using Pinterest with ease. I simply had to hit the "follow" button, double check that my request was received (see red circle and arrows), and now I will find Amanda Nickerson's pins in my home feed. Fortunately for me, all of the other social media sites are just as simple to use. Thus, I would like to take a few minutes to share several teachers and organizations I follow on social media that I find to be particularly enlightening.

Charity Preston: Charity is an organized pinner who has a board for every holiday, noteworthy teaching website, academic area, classroom management category, etc. that give her followers easy access to the materials they are looking for.

April Larremore: Having generic math, science, social studies, reading, and writing boards was too simple for April;  luckily for her users, April has divided each of these subjects into sub-categories (such as math-counting) that make it easier for followers to navigate her page.

Holly Brunetti: Holly is an elementary art teacher who pins many themed art projects ideas that range anywhere from paintings to recycled art.

Ariane Huddleston: Ariane runs The Science Penguin Pinterest page in which she primarily pins lesson plan ideas related to a variety of scientific topics.

Allison McDonald: Allison created the No Time For Flashcards Pinterest page which features many activities that promote hands on learning over the rote memorization of flashcards.

Amanda Nickerson: Amanda's Pinterest page features many boards that focus on community building activities and celebrations in the classroom rather than academic content, making it a unique and very valuable for teachers who are looking to bring their students closer together.

The Real Bill Nye: Bill Nye, everybody's favorite scientist, presents a wide range of videos on various scientific topics that can be used in any classroom.

Steve Spangler: Steve Spangler conducts a series of "sick" science experiments on his Youtube channel that students could easily replicate in their homes or in their classrooms.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: This Youtube channel teaches students about art preservation and art history in their great collection of educational clips.

Words of the World: Dedicated to revealing the true epistemology of words, this Youtube channel would serve as a great resource for introducing history lessons, multicultural awareness, and new vocabulary words.

Vancouver Poetry Slam: Many slam poets share their work on this Youtube channel, allowing students to see how poetry is in fact a form of entertainment and self expression for young adults just like themselves.

Associated Press: This Youtube channel brings viewers national and international news reports on a variety of topics for educators to choose from based on their students' interests.

Mrs. Russell's Room: Tamara Russell's Facebook page contains many classroom freebies, current news articles about education, and humorous memes meant to brighten any teacher's day.

Joan Brennan: Joan Brennan is an educator who frequently posts articles about ADHD and provides her readers with tips about helping children focus as they learn to read.

@coolcatteacher: Vicki Davis shares her many educational blog posts on Twitter in addition to articles from other professional teaching sources.

@TheJLV: Jose Vilson is a teacher in New York who frequently tweets about reforming education.

@cristama: Crista Anderson is a K-12 instructional coach who leads many chats on Twitter between educators and often tweets about classroom resources and educational quotes.

@friEdTechnology: Amy Mayer is passionate about edtech, providing her Twitter followers with many articles about using technology in the classroom.

@KleinErin: Erin Klein is a Scholastic Top Teacher who frequently tweets about classroom technology, promoting STEM, and higher level thinking activities.

@Inclusive_Class: Nicole Eredics shares many resources about making classrooms more inclusive for students with special needs. 

A Few of my Favorite Educational Organizations

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I wanted to take a few moments to share several of my favorite educational organizations with you that relate to teaching children with disabilities.

The first organization I would like to introduce is the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).  The CEC is dedicated to improving the educational accomplishments of individuals with unique disabilities and talents through advocacy, standards, and professional development. They pride themselves in providing information, resources, and professional development opportunities through their membership programs.

The CEC hosts a Special Education Convention and Expo for special educators once a year, usually in April, that lasts approximately four days. Below you will find registration rates. If you are interested in attending, please visit the CEC's Convention's website.

Registration Type	Early Bird Oct. 15 – Feb. 2	Advance Feb. 3 – Mar. 11	Onsite After Mar. 11	Group Rates (per person, groups of 5 or more)
Member	$395	$450	$495	$405
Nonmember	$515	$565	$615	$508
Student Member	$270	$320	$370	$290

   

Not only does the CEC offer professional development opportunities at the convention, they provide ongoing education to CEC members through their website. The CEC offers three different membership types:

• Premier: The Premier Membership costs $205 and includes access to research articles in addition to the CEC's two journals,TEACHING Exceptional Children and Exceptional Children, unlimited current newsletters, an open discourse community, discounts to further your education, the CEC's Career Center, two free webinars, a free e-book, and opportunities to connect with fellow professionals.
• Full: The Full Membership costs $115 and includes online access to the CEC's two journals, TEACHING Exceptional Children and Exceptional Children, three current newsletters (Special Education Today, Policy Insider, and Practice), opportunities to connect with fellow professionals, savings to further your education, one free webinar, and the CEC's Career Center. 
• Basic: The Basic Membership costs $65 and includes access to the CEC's journal, TEACHING Exceptional Children, two newsletters (Special Education Today and Policy Insider), opportunities to connect with fellow professionals, member savings to further your education, and the CEC's Career Center. 

For more information about the CEC, please check out their social media pages listed below.

Facebook                         Linkedin                       Pinterest                        Twitter

The second organization I would like to discuss is the Michigan Association on Higher Education and Disability (MI-AHEAD). MI-AHEAD's purpose is to provide educators with professional development opportunities so they can provide the best services to students with special needs. Additionally, MI-AHEAD strives to bring equity and more opportunities for students with disabilities in higher education. I have chosen to highlight this organization in my blog because I, a future educator, have been taught next to nothing about preparing individuals with disabilities for higher education. Overall, I hope I will be able to fill in the gaps my formal education has left in this area of teaching students with special needs. 

Members of MI-AHEAD get exclusive access to many professional development opportunities offered by the organization. Every month members meet to discuss best teaching practices, participate in round-table discussions, and network with fellow professionals. There are no periodicals or magazines included with the membership.The cost to join is $30 a year. Additionally, MI-AHEAD hosts a Fall conference every year. It costs $40 for members and $55 for non-members to attend. Each conference focuses around the concept of making classrooms more accessible to all students. For example, 2015's conference centered around assistive technology in the classroom. 

For more information about MI-AHEAD, please check out their social media pages listed below.

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