Blog Analysis

As I was recently searching through a series of blogs on Scholastic, I came across a blog that focused specifically on teaching and incorporating technology into the classroom. The blog itself was written by Scott Snyder from Lewisberry, Pennsylvania and can be found here. Take a look and I'm sure you will be impressed with the wealth of information he has to offer.

Pros of the blog:

• Tons of information
  • Scott has included a lot of information to help teachers incorporate technology into their classroom programming
• Perspective of an experienced teacher
  • Since Scott has taught for over 15 years, he has practical experience working with students and technology side-by-side
  • Consequently, he is able to provide concrete examples about different strategies that worked well in his own class and ideas for improving technology to benefit all students
• Well-organized
  • I found the blog to be well-organized since it included both links and labels along the right hand side
    • This made it easy for me to find and cross-reference materials without getting lost or confused

Cons of the blog:

• Overwhelming for new teachers
  • While the blog does have plenty of valuable information, it is hard to know where to start! I think that this blog would be more beneficial for experienced teachers who have a solid understanding of the basics of incorporating technology in the classroom.
    • Here is another blog that I believe would be more suitable to teachers who are just starting out on the techy journey.
• Out-dated
  • Scott has not updated his blog since August of 2009. While this is only 5 years out of date, a lot has happened since then in the realm of technology. Keeping a blog current and updated is essential when working with technology!
• American
• I found that some of the content and vocabulary was applicable exclusively to those teaching in the United States. While this may not be a con for other blog-viewers, it made me leery about Canadian equivalencies and how I could best use his knowledge and insight in a Canadian classroom.

Overall, I found this blog to be helpful and beneficial to me.  However, it will definitely take some practice before I am able to implement technology like a pro --- better get back to it!