This blog is intended to reflect on my experiences as an elementary teacher, focusing on Bilinguals and their issues. I love to teach. I discovered a bit late in my life, but I am embracing it with everything I have. Teachers do so much for their students! As parents, we normally do not get a chance to see how much educators put their own life, time and money into this career, and they do it for the kids, that's all! Really... They don't get any extra money, sometimes no one ever recognizes their work, but even with that, they do. They keep teaching our children, the children of the future.
Drive around a school on a late Friday or Sunday... more than likely you will see some teachers in there, already working on next week stuff. So, as a teacher, I am intended to present a few blogs to show different blogs that I use as a reference for good teaching ideas, classroom management, and sometimes just for fun!
Drive around a school on a late Friday or Sunday... more than likely you will see some teachers in there, already working on next week stuff. So, as a teacher, I am intended to present a few blogs to show different blogs that I use as a reference for good teaching ideas, classroom management, and sometimes just for fun!
But, what is a blog, and how can it be used? How can we, educators use blogs to improve our teaching and classroom management?
Blogs are like a digital diary. These fabulous websites can pretty much do everything. You can post pictures, videos, links and more. Blogs can also be used to sell stuff, or promote other blogs, or websites, like Teachers Pay Teachers (https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/).
Blogs have many advantages, like networking, because they are online, they are always up... so anyone anywhere can read it. Some websites offer translation, so another big door is opened... anyone can read it. Blogs can be used to share new ideas, have meaningful discussions, etc. I'm supposed to list some of the disadvantages, and honestly, the one that I can think of is that it takes the time to keep it up to date and it can take some time... that sometimes we don't really have. Don't we all wish we had a 30 hour day?? Mmmh...
Anyway, blogs can help us teachers connect with each other, share ideas and solve problems. Yes, problems! Because we all have them because we love our students and we really want them to succeed. We worry about them, and we want to make sure they leave our classrooms better than how we received them in the fall. So, we need each other, even those master reading and master math teachers, every now and then, they need help from others.
So many blogs... which ones to choose? I personally like to follow teachers from the Teachers Pay Teachers website. I use TPT products all the time, but when I found a teacher that has kind of cool and useful resources, I google the teacher's name, and I follow her/him through their blog, Instagram, or Twitter account. I always look for updated posts, because some of those great blogs may be abandoned or not updated recently.
The following list of blogs are people that are awesome educators, they have an Instagram account and that I follow their posts daily and also they have time to post to their blogs! Amazing! See? It's possible. :)
I choose 5 of my favorite blogs/websites from teachers. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!
Here we go! They are not in any particular order, I just post them as I go.
Blog #1
The dairy of a not so wimpy teacher, by Jaime Sears
Here is the link http://www.notsowimpyteacher.com/
This blog is an awesome resource for any Elementary level teacher. Jaime does an excellent job in keeping up with the posts, most of the posts are regarding what is going on during the school year and also during the summer. She also does a great job promoting their newest products in her TPT store. Her last post was on April 19, about things she recommended teachers to do for the end of the year. People, like me, follow her on her Facebook page and Instagram posts that are all the same. The blog have areas for comments, and people ask questions, and Jamie replies promptly. This blog is an asset to any teacher, as she shows different products and ideas that she uses in her classroom. Jamie introduces herself as a professional educator that also share her favorite websites and resources.
Blog #2
Top dog teaching, by Kayla Delzer.
Here is the link: http://www.topdogteaching.com/
Having to make a brief description is hard on this one. Kayla is an amazing teacher and blogger that takes pride in her teaching. She is an advocate on flexible seating, social media in the classroom and I absolutely admire how she shares her knowledge with other teachers. She also has a TPT store, and her products are amazing. She has participated in several conferences and even participated in the TEDx conferences. Here is the youtube link to hers:
Video courtesy of YouTube.
Her last blog post was March 29, 2017. She is followed on her blog by 323 people. She displays several awards that she has received too. Her followers can enjoy of a newsletter that is emailed to you.
Blog #3
B is for Bilingual, by Mynda Rivera.
Here is the link: B is for Bilingual
Mynda is an excellent example of a bilingual teacher. She has been a teacher for 10 years. She has an entirely bilingual blog where she posts different activities she is doing with her students. She shows with pictures and graphics what the activity is and how is related to the academic tasks that she is working on her classroom. She has been blogging since 2012 and has many followers. Her last post was April 16 of this year. I like that she showcases her other social media channels, like Facebook, Twitter, TPT, etc.
Blog #4
Education to the core, by Emily Liscom
Here is the link: Education to the core
This blog/web page is fabulous! Talk about well-round teacher resources. Emily posts updates almost every week. Her posts are mostly about teacher-related issues and classroom resources. I really enjoy reading her posts about preventing teacher burnt out prevention...! Emily also promotes her other social media outlets using her blog. These links are clearly published on the blog. She shares her teaching philosophy on her website and states that her blog is intended to be a resource for other teachers like her. She has many followers through her TPT account, over 16,000!
Blog #5
One stop teacher shop, by Kristin
Here is the link: 1 Stop Teacher Shop
This is a great website/blog for teachers. Kristin has a great website with a blog that includes many posts concerning different of her resources. Kristin is a retired teacher that is dedicated to creating resources for other teachers. The quality of her work is remarkable, and she is one of the top 100 sellers in TPT website. She has links to her other social media sites and has over 32,000 followers on TPT. I could not see dates on her posts, but there are so many of them! Her best seller product is her series of meaningful Homework series.
What about you? Have you ever thought of having your own blog? Itis not difficult! Creating a community of learners may look different like a blog and can help you find solutions to any conflicts that you may be having in your classroom. Because after all, it takes a village to educate a child, right?
Norma Romero-Komlofske
