50 blogs of educational interest

 As I continue my own educational pursuit, and the learning of technology that filters through are educational systems and daily lives, I have learned of a site called," 50 Educational Blogs, You May Not Know About, But Should".( http ://newsroom.opencolleges.edu.au/features/50-education-blogs-you-may-not-know-about-but-should)  I discovered many blog sites that were developed to assist teachers, students and possible other community members, discuss and promote their thoughts and experiences in the world of education.
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In the Traditional Elementary Education, I found, blogger, Brian Crosby http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.brian-crosby.com%2F&ei=U1aEULDWJeb40gHxjIHoAg&usg=AFQjCNEc4qPkpFGM3kgNo39UVRk734Gl3g&sig2=oloFCxVnS2ZR3SQtNRU1Pw  Brian has been a educator in the upper elementary school system for over 30 years.  He is connected also to the blog titled - sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CD0QFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Flearningismessy.com%2Fblog%2F&ei=FlGEUOTgKciB0QGQroD4Dg&usg=AFQjCNE4rP_AmPqeeyOnN8C0AXMKgJrrkQ&sig2=HkE35tq_eDNbcdLbBvWsBQ

Brian currently fuses his at risk students to the use of technology, incorporating field trips,art,hands-on activities, while using a problem based approach.  What is informative on this blog site is that based on literacy,project-based,student access and teacher access.  Brian developed this blog to help  students/teachers to build their world, while also attempting to connect them to the world.  He discusses the possibilities in education in the 21st century and also gives advise for technology.  This blog is based on making connections with other bloggers, links to student works, while encouraging teachers to take an active leadership role. Brian also believes and encourages students to be seen as valuable public resource and that they are doing important work as they are learning, and that society should be more willing to invest in them. One of his blogs that I found interesting, was" Hmm;  Maybe its not Innovate". http://learningismessy.com/blog/?p=1369   It reviews a newspaper article from 1939, about keeping detailed records of each student in order to lay a path of education for that student, so that his/her best interests were met in respect to their current capabilities and their future success.  Although there was only one posted comment on this particular blog,  I found that educators or at least some had insight into students education and a course of reform as far back as 1939, and it is one of the main themes in trying to develop educational reform today and trying to develop innovate ways to met each students needs.

I also reviewed the section on Traditional College and choose "The Chronicle of High Education".http://chronicle.com/section/Blogs/164/.  This blog site contains many authors of blogs, assistant professors, associated professors, undergraduate students and lectures.  This blog site has blogs that contain current news on education and places, advise and opinions.  Such sites include, Building and Grounds, Page view, Wired Campus and several others. This site is geared towards college individuals and administration.
  One of the blogs I linked to was from Wired Campus, it was titled,

"New York U. Turns to Free Site to Help Teach Computer Programming"

     http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/new-york-u-turns-to-free-site-to-help-teach-computer-programming/40372.  It was very informative on its views on how to teach computer programming courses and the use of free on-line help and partnership of Codeacademy.  This was sparked by the constantly changing work environment and for students-graduate to have knowledge about computer programming.  They want their graduate to be flexible thinkers, because no matter what profession they go into, they will need to understand digital literacy.  While this particular blog only received five comments, I believe that this blog was  interesting because it was researching and partner-shipping with a company to give students the ability to increase their literacy on technology and increase the probability of them being more successful in their future jobs.

In my last search of blogs, I looked at the section of E-Learning and Ed tech.  With in this section I located the blog site of "Funny Monkey", I choose this site because I liked the name of it. http://funnymonkey.com/blog   In this blog site it features current news in education, major educational issues, technology, classroom solutions.  It looks at these issues using information about Core Curriculum, Education Policy, and Education reform as their platforms.  This blog appears to address the audience of educators in the current process of our educational system, and the current issues they face with common core standards, educational reform, and standardized testing. I found this site to be very informational and gave me more in-sight on current issues in my own educational development of being an educator.  These topics are of extremely hot discussion, with-in the current climate of politics, government and cultural awareness. This blog  opens windows to view what information is currently in the Standards and what educators see as in need of reform because they don't align with what is required and looking at how educational reform can take place.

One of the blogs that I found extremely interesting and informational about standardized testing was,

If We Outsource Standards, Curriculum, and Assessment, What's Left?

http://funnymonkey.com/if-we-outsource-curriculum-standards-assessment-whats-left

It address New York's current educational reform topic of standardized testing , what questions should actual go on the test, because the current ones don't align with the Common Core and the use of students losing valuable educational time, acting as unpaid market researchers,All so Pearson knows enough and can write a test that will tell us whether or not schools are doing their jobs.  Big companies, like Pearson, have big stakes in the development of new curriculum and standardized testing, because they sell what is needed to schools to aid them in curriculum development and the assessments to evaluate students to see if they are currently meeting the standards.  Some New York parents are choosing to keep their children at home instead of continuing to send them to school , and choosing to not have them participate in this procedure, and making their opinion and view of funneling huge amounts of money(public) into private companies.

I found this blog extremely interesting because of the current crises of education and the much talked about need for reform.  I would strongly recommend viewing and increasing one's knowledge of  whats going on in  

education, as we continue to address the need for educational reform.