Our 2011 Edublog Award nominations

The EduBlog Awards are a great way to highlight worthy reading and resource sites in the virtual education community. And they're also one substantive way to thank folks who put in hundreds (and in some cases, thousands) of hours a year to share their thoughts and ideas and curate what Ed Web has to offer. Nominations are made through blog and website posts. This is ours! (Find out how to make your own nominations here.)

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Best individual blog

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day might logically go under Best Resource Sharing (resources don't get any better than this) but the category also includes "ed tech" in its descriptor. Larry's blog, with 1000s of links and "best of" lists about all things educational, is not so easily categorized. When you visit you'll see a series of EduBlog Awards badges along the right margin. But no 1st Place. We really need to do something about that.

Best individual tweeter

Our favorite dynamic young teacher has a powerful need to network and share. If you're interested in tech and learning, you should be following @MsSandersTHS.

Best group blog

Voices from the Learning Revolution, which began "transmitting" in March (see their retro logo). There's a great mix of voices here with a common purpose, which the blog describes as "shar(ing) the work and ideas of educators committed to creating a robust vision of teaching and learning in the 21st century." One of our favorite things about the blog? The many articles written by teachers who are not only learning to integrate technology into their teaching but learning to give more and more ownership of learning to their students. And their tendency to write about these shifts in useful detail!

Best new blog

When the editor of Education Week Teacher asked Larry Ferlazzo to come up with a weekly blogging idea, this was the result. At Classroom Q&A, Ferlazzo poses and invites questions about important ed topics, seeks out experts to provide interesting answers and then encourages his sizeable readership to engage in further discussion in the comments section. It's a lot of work for an excellent result.

Best class blog

First-grade teacher Kathy Cassidy never misses an opportunity to take pictures -- and six year olds busy about the business of learning make great subjects. Cassidy, an educator committed to 21st century teaching principles, has the knack for documenting and reflecting on her practice in ways that can help her readers

All of the above can also be said of Marsha Ratzel, a sixth grade science and math teacher who knows how to excite and engage her students with challenging project learning. We'd like to nominate both. Shouldn't there be at least three levels in the Best Class Blog category?

Best ed tech / resource sharing blog

Our usual nominee has won three years in a row and will likely win again. So in the spirit of introducing readers to new sources of good stuff, we nominate the Middle School Math & Science blog, authored by a crew of m/s geeks at Ohio State U who love to share ideas sure to engage students.

Most influential blog post

One of our personal favorites is "Thinking Hard While Running on Empty," which prompted a lot of folks in the edu-techy community to stop and think about whether their connectedness is paying dividends for their students. At Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach's 21st Century Collaborative blog. 

Over on the ed policy side, one might choose any of a dozen posts by Anthony Cody, but how about "Bill Gates' Big Play: How Much Can Money Buy in Education?"

Best twitter hashtag

 We're keen on #tlchat - the "tl" standing for "teacher librarian." If you want a steady flow of interesting stuff about teaching and learning, it's still a good idea to turn to your librarian. Virtually, if you must. Best of all, #tlchat is curated daily!

Best teacher blog

Raw teacher growth, straight from the classroom mine. Wright's Room.

Best librarian / library blog

Passionate. Perceptive. Persuasive. And all those cool infographics too! The Daring Librarian.

Best School Administrator blog

Lyn Hilt is principal of a K-6 school in Pennsylvania and a contributor to several group blogs, including Connected Principals. Her personal/professional blog The Principal's Posts regularly shares stories of school life, leavened with frank reflections on policy and practice.

Best free web tool

It's an iPad app. Flipboard. Awesome access to your Personal Learning Network.

Best educational wiki

We keep telling the voters! It's a Bill Ferriter product: Digitally Speaking. No grades 4-8 teacher with a yearn to integrate technology into excellent instruction should be without it

Best educational use of a social network

It's still last year's winner: English Companion Ning!

Lifetime achievement

For her long term commitment to the education community, and to remind us that the connected teacher librarian has a huge role to play in the digital age - Joyce Valenza.

Comments

[Lyn Hilt]

I greatly appreciate your recognition of my blog. Thank you for all you do to support teachers and learners!

[MsSandersTHS]

Thanks SO MUCH for the nomination! I am truly humbled to be considered in such good company! I truly cannot imagine my professional life without the PLN I have built through twitter!

[Gwyneth Jones]

Awww maaaaan! You just made my day! WOW! Thank you so much! Keeping it real for my Middle School Peeps! Now I gotta show this to my Mom!
Cheers!
~Gwyneth Jones
The Daring Librarian