It was another week of great reading from Ontario Edubloggers. As I did my reading, I tucked away a few for this post. But, there’s so much more at the entire list. Make sure you check them all out!
What do you do on a snow day at school?
This isn’t a blog in the traditional WordPress/Blogger sense but still has the same components – great content and you can comment. Down here in the Sun Parlour, schools were open during the bad weather but buses didn’t run. That typically ends up with a subset of students – the question becomes one of what do you do to make sure that it’s a positive educational experience for those who do show up. My friend Shelley Pike created a Thinklink to demonstrate some of what they did.
Lest you need to feed on a traditional blog posting, she follows up with lots of pictures on her class blog.
Ice Storm Fury and Tweaking Twitter Thoughts
Diana Maliszewski shared some of here thoughts about social media and the ice/snow storm. She was kind enough to mention my blog post about it so thanks, Diana.
There was a great deal shared on social media, some good and some not so good.
Now, if you’re old enough to go back to the days of the BBS, there wasn’t a quality Cnet system that didn’t have a “Debates” Conference. Typically, it was topics like “Hot Chocolate or Cold Chocolate – GO!” Then, you end up with a bunch of back and forths, sometimes resulting in attacks like the classic Saturday Night Live.
In her post, Diana identified a long exchange between two Twitter users and took the time to capture it for the content of the post. It served to remind me of how difficult ongoing conversations can be on Twitter if you’re not using hashtags. I can’t help but think that taking it to Google + or Facebook would have been a better forum for such a debate. Kudos to Diana for sticking to the entire exchange. I wouldn’t have had the patience.
A Day in the Life of an Inquiry-Based Classroom
If you want to read a blog post and feel immediately tired, you need to check out a day in the life of an inquiry-based classroom. Louise Robitaille took the time to details the events of the day, including identifying specifically the role of the teacher – all with lots of pictures.
It was great to see how technology was infused throughout and, appropriately, not all pictures included new technology. It looks like one busy and challenging place.
mLearning: Moving Beyond the App
When you talk about mobile, it’s not long before the discussion includes the question “What apps are you using?”
It’s like, if you’re using the best apps, you’ll get the best results for your investment.
Rob DeLorenzo encourages you to take a look beyond the app to the actual use. It is more than just the app.
Is there value in tweeting?
Not only is this a question that you need to have a firm answer for yourself, you’ll need that answer for colleagues, for your administrators, for your students, and certainly for parents during interviews.
Aviva Dunsiger takes on the question and I like her list of “sometimes’
Those are great topics to at least ponder if you’re questioning yourself and your practice.
Or, if you’re wondering about starting, do they provide inspiration?
Aviva does walk the walk; she knows what she’s talking about.
How to create a terrible cover for your novel
This post, by Brandon Grasley was really interesting. He talks about the self-publishing industry and then ties in the concept of making it sellable to someone who might want to read it, just by making the cover look good.
Apparently, by Brandon’s standards, you can indeed judge a book by its cover!
What follows is a tutorial using Adobe Photoshop Elements to design a better cover.
As we used to say in the Program Department, there’s got to be a workshop in there somewhere.
Please take the time to visit the posts above and all the Ontario Educational blogs. You’ll find a continuous flow of great thinking, ideas, and inspiration.
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doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.