Discovering Blogs

I discovered the blog, Changing High Schools on the ISTE blog site http://www.isteconnects.org/2009/03/03/moving-a-district-to-engage-in-web-20-teaching-and-learning/. The blogger was a guest blogger on the site. His actual blog can be found at http://changinghighschools.blogspot.com/. The author of this blog is New York School Superintendent Neil Rochelle. In this particular post, Rochelle, gives insight about his district’s journey to integrate Web 2.0 tools with teaching and learning. He started his blog in order to discuss the changes that will result from “exciting initiatives in an attempt to reform high schools as we know it”. Neil Rochelle has been blogging since July, 2006. He is most interested in technology and its role in education. There are major reforms that will be effecting traditional education and teachers need to catch up to the way students learn best.

This blog will assist me in the delivery of instruction. Rochelle not only speaks about the technology that is available for educators to learn and to use, but he also includes examples of how technology has been used in the classroom. For example, instead of having elementary school students write a Valentines Day card for their parents, the students created a podcast which was sent to the parents via email. I can definitely use an idea like this. Although his blog is entitled “Changing High Schools”, the blog is really about how educators can use technology to spark learning. This blog will help me to teach better and to include innovation in my teaching methods and delivery of instruction.