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Educational Blogs have been my planning, instructional, and assessment saviours for the past 5 years. Blended Learning, Mobile Learning and Technology-rich instruction are growing trends in education and it can be overwhelming when it it comes to how use new tech tools and apps in your classroom. These blogs have great teaching tips, assessment strategies, and resources that I've accessed to integrate technology into the classroom to create more meaningful learning experiences for my students. These are my Top 5 blogs to follow if you are considering tech integration in your face-to-face classroom:  1. Educational Technology and Mobile Learning This blog focuses on Edtech and mLearning and provides a large and useful collection of "educationally approved" apps that educators can use in the classroom, as well as strategies to integrate them successfully. Mobile devices are changing how students learn inside and outside of the classroom, and educators and schools need to be aware of how to integrate them properly with lesson plans and curriculum.  2. Cult of Pedagogy This is the only cult that I suggest you join LOL. The editor in chief, Jennifer Gonzalez, is a breath of fresh air and presents through her blog and podcast, relevant, effective, and pedagogically sound teaching strategies and practices. Her blog posts are categorized into The Craft (Instructional Practices, Classroom Management, and Technology), Go Deep (Exploring Learning Theory, Leadership, Professional Development, Book Reviews, and Hot Topics), Teacher Soul (Attitude, Inspiration, Teacher Stories). Her resources and instructional/assessment strategies are focused on the 21st Century learner and professional development. She even offers resource packages and online courses! Visit this blog and you will most definitely become the newest acolyte in her cult!  3. Edutopia The George Lucas Educational Foundation funds this blog as part of a two-pronged strategy to improve K-12 education. The Force is definitely with this blog (I had to!), it has it all! Up-to-date, research based articles and videos on best practices and innovations in education, are housed on a clean and intuitive interface. This is one of my core teaching resources. Check. It. Out!  4. Teachthought Teachthought is new blog to me in the last few months. I kept on finding great "how-to" tech articles that were created for this site and now I'm a regular! Check out the Technology section of this blog and get lost in how to use social media, Google Suite for Education (GSFE), and Virtual and Augmented Reality in the classroom. It has been a highly useful resource while I plan for Mobile Learning curriculum and create quick lesson ideas using apps like Twitter, Pintrest, GSFE, Facebook etc.  5. We are Teachers This blog has fantastic lesson ideas and teaching strategies in the Classroom Ideas section. Search for articles in Assessment, Science, Technology, Math, ELA, SEL/ELL, Professional Development, you name it and you will find insightful resources created by teaching professionals. I cannot encourage you enough to check out these educational blogs, as well as the many others out there (400,000 ed blogs out there! Get on it!). Accessing blogs and the educational content, curriculum, resources, etc. they house has created a pivotal change in how I teach and plan. The educational blogging community has created a vast and varied resource base for me to tap into and use in my lesson planning and instructional/assessment practices. A huge benefit of blogs as an educational resource is that most blogs create and share Open Educational Resources (OERs), which are materials that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt, and re-share. As I annoyingly tell my children, "sharing is caring!" And in this case, it truly is. By creating and sharing educational material online, educators are increasing accessibility and efficacy of best practice and resources, as well as creating an online community for educators to share ideas and receive feedback and support to better improve their teaching practice. A win-win! I will leave you now with my final thought on blogs (like this one!). Blogs create a medium in which educators can access the most current information and resources, that will bring much needed inspiration, innovation, and hopefully transformation into their teaching and classroom. AND this post doesn't even touch on all of the student benefits of blogging, such as improved skills in literacy, typing, technology, social interactions, cultural understanding, digital citizenship, and geography, just to name a few! So check out some educational blogs this week or better yet start your own blog and share your teaching knowledge with the global education community! In a podcast by Lois Smethurst, she states, You don’t understand the value of blogging until you start blogging yourself."
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Laura DeCiantisLife long learner, mother of 4 wild things, charming wife, and big time teacher nerd. 
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