Wednesday 2 December 2009

Janet's Nominations for the Edublog Awards 2009



Where does one begin? The huge array of talent is stunning. The task of choosing only one for each category is overwhelming. Everyone is a "winner" in my eyes. Anyway, here goes. The folowing is a list of the blogs I will be nominating. One thing clearly unites all of them. They are written with great passion.
Best teacher blog
Kalinago english. Karenne Sylvester is the blogger par excellence to measure oneself with. In one year, Karenne's blog has gone from strength to strength. Each post enlightens us. You take something away with you to think about and ponder over. Her strive to help fellow bloggers, her enthusiasm knows no bounds. A worthy candidate.

Best resource sharing blog
Alex Case's Tefltastic. I love the way it is written. The tone is fun and yet has an underlying seriousness which makes you sit up and listen. That engages me. The amount of resources that Alex produces and shares with us all is fabulous.

Best new blog
Ken Wilson's blog. A master racconteur. A true liver of life. Ken Wilson can spin a good tale, wrap you round his little finger and before you know it, you are inside his world, living his experiences. An awesome new blogger.

Best e-learning blog
Life Feast Blog by Ana Maria Menezes is great. It's clear and easy on the eye. There is always some exciting e-tool to try out.

Best individual tweeter
Shelly Terrell's Teacher Reboot Camp is a treasure trove of advice and information. A lot of knowledge shared in a very engaging manner. I love Shelly's "What did they tweet?" series.

Best educational technology support blog
Free Technology for Teachers is a great site for learning about web 2.0 tools and how to integrate new technologies into the classroom. The posts are presented in a succint manner and whet your appetite for learning more.

Best resource sharing blog
Nik Peachey deserves a very special mention. I have learned a lot of what I know simply by watching Nik's video tutorials. I particularly like Nik's Quick Shout. It's a great place for newbie techies to feel at home and enjoy the lessons. The rationale for using each new e-tool is always at the forefront of Nik's choices and my experimenting with Xtranormal is a direct result from his excellent tutorials.

Best educational use of video
Russell Stannard's Teacher Training video tutorials have also enriched my learning experience. From being an easily scared technophobe and wary internet user a year ago, these tutorials have helped me on my way to becoming more "au fait" with a lot of nice tools. The pedagogical use behind them is always emphasised and that is a very important factor.

Best individual blog
The English blog is great for keeping up to date with the news and is the first place I visit every morning. How Jefferey Hill keeps abreast with everything topical is absolutely awesome and his posts are always pertinent. I like the fact that they are short and very effective.

Best educational use of audio
Breaking News English is an incredible resource for the busy teacher. A lot of dedication and hard work go behind such types of posts as they evolve as events happen.

Best class blog
Room 18's Learning Journey blog is amazing. I have been following their progress via the Student Blogging Challenge. I first saw something about Scrapblog from Room 18's sidebar, which has a host of truly impressive e-tools they are au fait with. These young students are certainly making excellent use of resources.

Most influential blog post
How to become an ELT Teacher Educator by Marisa Constantinides. This particular posting made me realise that there is so much more to being a teacher trainer than I had thought of before. It was a very insightful and fascinating article.

Best corporate education blog

The Edublogger. Sue Waters is doing a brilliant job helping teachers and students in the blogosphere.

Click on this link for Edublog Awards to make your own nominations.

11 comments:

KALINAGO ENGLISH said...

Thank you so very much Janet! It's really very, very sweet of you and I appreciate it very much. I love your Xtranormal video introduction -that's fantastic! ;-)
Karenne

Janet Bianchini said...

Hi Karenne

It's my pleasure to include you in my list. Your blog has been a huge inspiration for me.

I had fun with the video!

Shelly Terrell said...

Janet,

I love your video and trust me I was pulling my hair out going over the list of candidates I wanted to nominate. Thank you for going through this process and considering me!

Janet Bianchini said...

Shelly

It's my great pleasure to nominate you!

Marisa Constantinides said...

Dear Janet,

For such a new blogger as me, it's a great surprise and, indeed, a treat and a thrill to be even considered for any of the nominations, so "most influential post", wow...

What can I say but thanks!

Marisa

Alex Case said...

Thanks so much Janet. Glad the bizarre mix of attempts at humour and worksheets is appreciated, because it seems to be the only way I can blog!

Janet Bianchini said...

Dear Marisa and Alex

I enjoy reading both your blogs and so it is my great pleasure to have nominated you.

Ken Wilson said...

Well, here's a thing...

I was waiting for Mrs W to fix dinner, and I was passing the time surfing hither and thither blog-wise, and lo! I landed on your Moodle book review.

Reading the first few lines made me realise that I really had to read this because I was going to learn something important.

Then the butler sounded the gong to indicate that dinner was served, so I had to hurry away and leap into the penguin suit (sorry, I've been reading a lot of PG Wodehouse recently).

The point being that I left your blog open at the Moodle book review, and when I came back from dinner, it had gone!

And it had been replaced by your Edublog nominations. And there I was - best new blog! How exciting!

Other people have nominated me for 'lifetime achievement' - I've been blogging for less than four months. I suppose in blog-world, that constitutes several lifetimes, right?

Thank you, Janet, and also for your 'Streamline' memories earlier today.

Janet Bianchini said...

Hi Ken

I do hope you found the Moodle review again after your very posh-sounding dinner?

I feel your blog has made a great impact in the blogosphere in an incredibly short amount of time and it is my great pleasure to have nominated you.

I hope we can have more robust conversations via Twitter regarding the merits and strategies behind drills.

I will shortly be off to a very posh Xmas do at the Trout,Oxford, immortalised by Inspector Morse. Indeed, it has a rich literary history to match that of your dinner a la PG Wodehouse, no doubt!

Ken Wilson said...

Goodness! The Trout! Well... a place that will have its own chapter when the authorised history of the English Teaching Theatre is written (if it ever is...)

Between 1977 and 1990, we probably did more than 20 summer season shows in Oxford and each one was preceded by a non-alcoholic visit to the Trout (drinking before shows was a no-no at the ETT). For some reason, it was also a place where intense arguments broke out, or where the conversation reached such a level of hilarity, that we were asked to quieten down.

I hope your memories of the place are equally good!

Janet Bianchini said...

Hi Ken

Just to add to your comment regarding the Trout. I had a fab time last Thursday evening and the food was very good indeed. It was so good in fact that I shall be partaking of even more delicious dishes very soon with another group of friends. I hope to do a review afterwards.

I look forward to reading about your memories of this delightful inn.