Education is, at heart, a community effort.
In our community, we share our learned experiences and resources as well as offer up opinions on current events. Each voice adds to the body of pedagogy and learning. This happens within classrooms, at conferences, in teacher break rooms, and it happens on blogs.
So we at Turnitin want to recognize blogs that are doing the work of being excellent resources to teachers.
These are our favorite blogs:
- Homeroom Homeroom is the official blog of the U.S. Department of Education, one that addresses all stages of education within the United States. The topics, addressing educators and parents and students alike, range from teacher appreciation to navigating financial aid applications to tips on supporting learning at home.
- The Innovative Educator Innovative Educator is written by Lisa Nielsen. Her voice is sharp and practical--offering opinions on screen time and strategies on how to use technology within the classroom.
- Mindshift Mindshift is KQED’s education-focused blog. The education blog topics are holistic (mindfulness in the classroom and a recent post on educator resilience come to mind). Mindshift is socially conscious and encourages readers to question the status quo. It is a great resource for updates on current events in education, too.
- Edutopia Edutopia is a K-12 focused blog from the George Lucas Educational Foundation. Topics range from classroom management to language arts lesson plans to using social media within the classroom. It’s nuts and bolts and very accessible.
- Cycles of Learning High school chemistry teacher Ramsey Musallam is behind Cycles of Learning, which provides written and video tutorials on incorporating technology within the classroom. A great resource for STEM educators.
- Cult of Pedagogy This is a pedagogy blog that is full of verve. The posts are categorized under “Craft,” “Go Deep,” and “Teacher Soul” --and that tells you so much about its intentionality and teacher-focused posts. From classroom management to theory to support structures, Cult of Pedagogy is a must visit for K-12 educators.
- Secret Teacher The Guardian’s “Secret Teacher” is a series of anonymous blog posts written by educators. What would a teacher say if they could speak frankly? Here’s “Secret Teacher.” It’s angry and not angry and truthful.
- Tales of Teaching in Heels Tales of Teaching in Heels is written by “Stephanie,” whose posts focus on secondary education. It is a delight to read and view--it’s as if Etsy and a pedagogy blog had a baby: the blog offers lesson plans, printable to-do lists (complete with wonderful doodles), and writing prompts.
- Everybody is a Genius Everybody is a Genius is written by Sarah, a high school math teacher. This blog has downloadable class handouts (on geometric proofs and metric conversion and standards-based grading) as well as pedagogy advice and personal notes for secondary education math teachers.
We hope this adds to your list of teaching resources. We certainly love having them in our resource bank as well.