I would like to thank the following people for contributing so much to my learning. I’m only nominating in categories where the impact has been powerful and potent. I’m also going to cheat and add a few ‘honourable mentions’: These may not mean much to the Edublog Awards, but they mean a lot to me, (if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll already know that I follow my own rules that work for me in my own learning space).
My Nominations for the 2009 Edublog Awards are:
Best individual blog: Stephen’s Web
I actually almost never go to Stephen Downes’ blog, as I read his daily email updates. Since his is the only daily read that I do, and since it leads me all over the web and exposes me to so many other ideas and points of view, I can’t say anyone has had more of an influence on my learning this year.
Best individual tweeter: @courosa
So much of what I end up sharing myself has been introduced to me via Alec Couros. He is integral to my PLN (Personal Learning Network – and – Professional Learning Network).
Honourable mention to: @SueWaters since Sue will always step up and extend a hand to anyone in her network, and @ShellTerrell – Shelly is the Queen of ReTweets, she finds gem after gem and shares them.
Best new blog: Mr. Jackson’s Blogosphere
Bryan Jackson is a wonderfully reflective teacher and he has a fantastic job working with some of the most gifted kids in his district. This gives him a great playground for bouncing around innovative ideas and his reflective nature produces wonderful insight.
Best class blog: Huzzah!
I love this caption from the blog, compliments of teacher Jan Smith: “Please notice our successes, not our mistakes. Our blog is a invitation to see what we are up to. Some of our work will be polished, and some will be in draft form. Please honour our attempts.” Jan makes student blogging a learning experience that it should be, and not just an exercise in doing old things in new ways. Don’t just visit her blog, go to her student blogs and check out what they are doing!
Honourable mention to: Clarence Fisher‘s Idea Hive. I’m sure there are other classes doing work as meaningful as Jan and Clarence but in my eyes they are in a league of their own. Like Jan’s students, Clarence’s students deserve a visit and a comment.
Best resource sharing blog: Larry Ferlazzo’s Website of the Day
Yes he is probably nominated already, but his is the resource sharing site I most often end up on.
Most influential blog post: 10 Tips for Teaching Technology to Teachers
Liz B. Davis‘ brilliant post that helps others to lead the way with teachers new to tech. A MUST READ POST!
Honourable mention to: Would You Please Block? My favourite line from this wonderful Bud Hunt post: “Students off task is not a technology problem – it’s a behavior problem.” Be sure to skim the many comments too.
Most influential tweet / series of tweets / tweet based discussion: Blogworthy Tweets
I love the opening sentence by Claudia Ceraso: “These tweets of mine need not be noteworthy, except that I want to make a note of them. To make sure they do not vanish in cyberspace. They deserve a spot in this personal learning scenario.” What strikes me with this post is the realization that some of these less-than-140-character thoughts are deserving of more thoughts and discussion. These are not truly a series of tweets but I have a bias in that it was posts like this by Claudia that got me onto twitter.
Honourable mention to: #EdChat I haven’t been on twitter too much to join in recently, but I peek in occasionally and it is always a rich conversation. This isn’t a blog, but worthy of mentioning.
Best teacher blog: Always Learning
Kim Cofino continues to be my teacher and I’m a big fan of teachers who help other educators. Kim is tireless in her attempts to promote globally connected teachers and students.
Best librarian / library blog: The WebFooted Booklady
Lesley @Bookminder Edwards is going to retire soon, yet she is leading the way for the next generation of teachers. I want to be as inspiring as her when I reach that part of my career. She may be stepping away from schools, but I hope she doesn’t retire from sharing her wisdom online!
Best educational tech support blog: The Edublogger
If you are a blogger, you’ve probably used some advice found here, or shared here first then modeled by others. Sue Waters consistently brings sound blogging advice and direction to readers.
Best elearning / corporate education blog: elearnspace
Sorry, no corporate blog here, George Siemens brings you up to speed on the latest ideas in e-learning. If you don’t know what connectivism is, it’s time to sign up for his weekly email.
Best educational use of audio: Seedlings
Alice Barr, Cheryl Oakes and Bob Sprankle not only offer great interviews, they support new teachers on their Ning network too!
Honourable mention to: Bit-by-Bit by Bob Sprankle on his own. He has recorded so many presentations worth listening to!
Best educational wiki: PLN Yourself!
It’s Sue Waters again. This time offering an easy launching point for people who want to expand their Personal Learning Network.
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So there are my nominations. Besides Stephen Downes, who only follows one person, I’m connected to every one of these educators on Twitter and I’d be remiss in not mentioning that. In reality, I have seldom opened my RSS reader this year and so the list above was greatly influenced as a result of my connections to some amazing people on Twitter.
I enjoy the Edublog Awards because they always expose me to blogs and connections that I would not have had otherwise. I don’t believe there is a need for competition amongst edubloggers, but I do believe that highlighting the people you admire is worthy. Thanks again to these wonderful people for their inspiration and for being my teacher… I look forward to learning and sharing more with you.
David,
Thanks so much for the nomination!
Larry
Dave,
Thank you most humbly for the nomination! Your words of encouragement and advice – not to mention engaging conversation/networking through Twitter and our blogs – have throughly contributed to the blog (and myself) developing. Thanks again for your continued support and (e-)friend/mentor/leader-ship,
Bryan
David, thank for the lovely nomination and your very kind words. I am sure that I will be involved in the online community after my official retirement. I can’t imagine just turning it all off like a tap!
Lesley
Hi David, thanks for both the nominations and the nice words. I’m not totally convinced I deserve an honourable mention for twitter as I feel like I’ve been a bad tweeter lately 🙁
Hi David,
I am honoured and grateful that you would nominate our blog. You have been that constant voice of encouragement, the connector, the teacher–I have learned so much from you. My students will be really happy Monday morning when I relay your kind words. Many thanks,
Jan
David: Thanks so much for the nomination! Your kind words mean a great deal. I know we have learned so much from you as well. Thanks again! Alice
Thanks so much for nominating me. I am honored to be in such great company.
Thank you so much for the nomination, David! I’m honored to be among a long list of educators I respect and admire.
Thank you for the mention! You have a great list here of people I should have included in mine as well. I think it is so wonderful, though, to have the problem of who to choose because this means there are wonderful educators sharing phenomenal stuff. Too many times I hear that blogging has ruined information because the material is not scholarly. However, I find I learn quite a bit from these wonderful resource sharers!
Some stats:
My Twitter updates count today: 3,416 and you David got to a surprising 6,222.
You simply had to be there!
You say at the end of the post,
“I’m connected to every one of these educators on Twitter and I’d be remiss in not mentioning that.”
That’s exactly my state of mind before you got into Twitter. I thought: this Twitter network rocks my mind. But there were a few influential bloggers for me who were still not there at the time. I missed them.
I think I pushed you more than pulled you into a tool -against my own principles. I’m not guilty at all. Frankly I’m glad.
Thank you for the mention to that collection of tweets. Thank you for seeing the value in spite of the design mess in it.
I am grateful to Bud Hunt for replying “say more” after some of those tweets. It made me think I was stretching the Twitter tool too far. It was about time to go back to the good old reflection post. A timely tweet from your closer network circle spells magic. At least it does for me.
Finally, I like that you mention your bias in your nominations. I think it is as important as nominating. Some teachers will probably use the nominations as a newbie guide to the edublogosphere. Your post tells them “this is what we do”, “this is what works for me” without claiming any authority except being transparent.
This is why you are among my kind of people, David.
Larry,
You are very deserving and you are welcome.
Bryan,
I guess I owe you great thanks for the nomination as well. I’m not sure this was a year of blogging that puts me in the ‘Best Individual Blog’ category, and so as I mention to you on your post, it means a lot to me that such a nomination would come from ‘home’.
Lesley,
So glad to hear that your presence will still be felt, I’m not sure I could just ‘turn off the tap’ either.
Sue,
The awards are for a whole year… your presence on Twitter deserves more than just an honourable mention!
Jan,
I love that you make blogging such a rich and valuable experience for your students, and they deserve the kudos, as do you.
Alice,
I regret not getting a chance to spend more time talking to you in Boston, we must plan some time together the next time we have a face-to-face opportunity!
Liz,
You rock! What more can I say?
Kim,
Both you and Liz are leaders that I would follow any day. Thanks for all that you do and share!
Shelly,
On the topic of sharing, I don’t think we have been connected on Twitter for too long, and yet I can’t imagine Twitter without your presence.
Claudia,
I have not known Twitter without you as I believe you were the first friend that I added. Thanks again for the ‘push’ and also for being so thoughtful and insightful in your blog posts, your tweets and your comments.
~Dave.
Hi Dave, Thanks for noticing! I especially like the comment about new teachers and our ning. New teachers and new learning are what I like. The chance to make connections and share are very important. Glad to have made a connection to you and hope to see you stateside next summer. Cheryl
The best to you and your family this holiday season.
All the best to you and your family too Cheryl!
What I like most about what you, Bob and Alice do is that you are true leaders… you extend your hands and offer help to anyone who wants it. With more educators like you three, exemplifying what it means to be connected teachers and learners, we’ll see things changing much faster in the near future!