English Assignment - "ENGLISH TEACHER'S BLOG"

INTRODUCTION

There are many teacher-related blogs on the internet where teachers can share information with one another. Teachers familiarize themselves with edublogs before implementing them with their students. Many teachers share materials and ideas to meet the diverse needs of all learners in their classrooms. Teachers can often rely on these sources to communicate with one another regarding any issues in education that they may be having, including classroom management techniques and policies. In this way, the blog often acts as a support system for teachers where they can access ideas, tools, and gain support and recognition from other professionals in their field. Weblogs can provide a forum for reading, writing and collaborating.

Edublogs can be used as instructional resources, in which teachers can post tips, explanations or samples to help students learn. The use of blogs in the classroom allows both the teacher and student the ability to edit and add content at any time. The ability for both the teacher and student to edit content allows for study to take place outside the classroom environment, since blogs can usually be accessed using the URL of the blog on any computer. Blogs increase exposure to other students from around the country or world, while improving writing and communication skills. Teachers are using blogs as a way to post important information such as homework, important dates, missed lessons, projects, discussion boards, and other useful classroom information that is accessible by all. As noted, students can access this information from home, or from any computer that is connected to the Internet.

Teachers and parents can also use blogs in order to communicate with one another. They can be used to post class announcements for parents or providing schedule reminders. Connecting to a teacher's blog is also a convenient way for parents to find out daily assignments so that they can monitor their children's progress and understand classroom expectations.

SOME EXAMPLES

 

This section lists those teacher or teaching blogs which we think merit reading. The blogs are all very different, but all interesting in one way or another. Some look at the day to day life of a teacher, others at teaching techniques, materials and methods. In any event, whatever their content or focus, we think they're all worth a read.

 

Joyful Collapse

 Mindy Keller is the writer of the teacher blog 'Joyful Collapse'. Mindy graduated summa cum laude from Florida Atlantic University and began teaching in 1998. Her career spans from teaching remedial to advanced courses in English as well as courses in theatre and debate within both traditional and virtual environments.

Through her blog 'Joyful Collapse', Mindy aims to help teachers - particularly high school English educators - in determining best practices for reaching today's adolescents. The website contains a blend of philosophy, practical advice, discussion, and discourse.

English Attack!

 The English Attack! Entertainment English Blog explains and discusses various approaches for improving effectiveness in teaching English to EFL and ESL learners, in particular teens and young adults.

The Blog covers aspects of teaching and learning based on principles of cognitive neuroscience or so-called "brain-based learning"; provides explanation of the pedagogical approaches used in the English Attack! online learning resource for consumers, schools and organizations; and gives the author's thoughts and impressions about industry events, IATEFL and TESOL conferences, and general trends in the industry.

English Attack! was selected as one of the finalists in the 2010 PLUGG pan-European competition for technology start-ups, and in the same years was a finalist in the Tech Crunch Paris, Seedcamp Paris (voted among the top five start-ups) and pan-European The Next Web start-up events.

EFL Training

 This blog is owned by Christina, an experienced ESL teacher and teacher trainer, currently working in Italy for a large teaching organisation. The blog is written for teachers and trainee teachers who are passionate about teaching and interested in lifelong learning.

The blog includes a wide range of sections covering topics such as CELTA, Teacher Development, learning terminology, technology, dyslexia and more besides. In addition there are sections and posts relating to resources you might find useful in your classrooms. An interesting site, worth a visit!

Reflections of a Teacher and Learner

 Dave Dodgson has been working as an EFL teacher in Turkey since 2000 and has also taught in Spain, where he did his teacher training. His blog, Reflections of a Teacher and Learner, is about the reflections of a teacher and learner! He reflects on his teaching, shares lesson ideas, talks about his MA studies, conferences, posts general thoughts on education or whatever's on his mind.

One of the most recent posts, for example, was 'How NOT to Teach a Great Lesson (or How to Increase Student Creativity)' and subtitled 'How NOT to Teach a Great Lesson - in Ten Easy Steps' which every EFL-ESL teacher should read.

If you're an English teacher, this blog, once voted British Council Teaching English Blog of the Month (February 2012), is certainly worth a visit.

 

KELTA

Kerala English Language Teachers’ Association is an avenue to in-depth analysis on emerging trends and challenges in Teaching English

KUETEF

Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum has everything a student teacher of English is looking for. This is an exclusive blog for teacher trainees of English optional under Kerala University. The site is interactive and informative.

 

CONCLUSION

 

There are several uses of edublogs. Some bloggers use their blogs as a learning journal or a knowledge log to gather relevant information and ideas, and communicate with other people. Some teachers use blogs to keep in contact with students' parents. Some bloggers use blogs to record their own personal life, and express emotions or feelings. Some instructors use blogs as an instructional and assessment tool, and blogs can be used as a task management tool. Blogs are used to teach individuals about writing for an audience as they can be made public, and blogging software makes it easier to create content for the Web without knowing much HTML.

 

REFERENCE

1.       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edublog

2.       http://www.englishteacherwebsites.com/teacherblogs.html

3.       http://www.english4keralasyllabus.com

4.       http://keltakerala.blogspot.in

5.       http://kuetef.blogspot.in