C4T #4

Brian Cosby, an upper elementary teacher and STEM facilitator in Nevada, blogs about innovative teaching and learning. In his post, With all the talk about how much we value teachers, and especially great teachers... he talks about how athletes and pop stars are world renown, but teachers are rarely recognized by the media. He makes valid points about the importance everyone puts on "education" but then no one acknowledges the teachers who give students that education. Although I agree with Crosby and feel like teachers are taken for granted, I know the same holds true for nurses and firefighters. Somewhere there is a teacher who finally got through to an at-risk student and helped them get to college and that teacher will never make the headline news. Somewhere there is a nurse who literally saved someones life, and that nurse doesn't get a cover story either. It is sad that these positive, real life stories are not publicized.

Unleash the Learning Power of Blogs By Actually Using Them Consistently! talks about the effectiveness of blogging in the classroom when used on a regular basis. Cosby compares blogging to an exercise machine, it only works if you use it. I really feel like blogging will be one of the most useful tools I take away from this semester. Using them as online writing portfolios for an English class will not only motivate students to improve their work, it will also make it easier to track the progress of each individual student, rather than having to keep up with every writing assignment turned in on paper.