Richard WilsonHow many blogs do you visit every day? Surely many: from that to find regional recipes to that of the emerging writer, from the platform that publishes the latest news to the space for lovers of Arts, Music, Archeology … and more. But a Didactic Blog? Are there many? Who are they aimed at and what resources can they offer? Let’s go deeper into this sector, and find out which are the best sites that offer the possibility of creating and consulting educational projects.
What is an educational blog and how does it differ from other sites?
Today the Blog is defined in different ways and called “Online Journal”, “Diary” or “Logbook”: all terms that indicate its nature. In fact, the Blog itself is a space created by a person or an organization, structured for a simple consultation and which offers personal content (thoughts, reflections, philosophies) alternating with citations and documents of public utility, whether in written or multimedia such as photos, videos, diagrams, etc. The Blog wants to reach as many people as possible, and in the specific case of the didactic one, it also becomes a link between school and family, between teachers and students, effectively creating an even more proactive and constructive community. Do you remember the classic “Giornalino di Classe”? Let’s say that the Blog can represent, among other things, also the evolution of this connection tool. Thanks to the “Tags” (the keywords to easily find the arguments), to the “Feeds” (the notice of publication of new contents), to the archives, to the “anchor text” (possibility to access other sites to learn more about a topic , by clicking on a word to which the links have been attached) and the tools used to comment and dialogue, (such as the Chat Box) the Blog becomes a very effective dissemination channel; in the field of education, therefore, an important extension of the existing means is revealed.
Educational Blogs, a winning combination
The arrival of technology in the classrooms makes a very important contribution to the whole teaching method. In a short time, thanks to tools such as the IWB, the classroom has become a place for active sharing and construction of knowledge, forever abandoning the concept of oneway transmission of information. Thanks to the innumerable management possibilities given by the Internet connection and the ease of use that does not require excessive computer skills, the IWB connected to the Blog allows teachers not only to involve students at 360 degrees but also to teach them the correct use of the net. The children learn how to orient themselves in the enormous quantity of contents present in it, skills that will also serve them in the social and extracurricular sphere.
6 + 2 Italian Educational Blog
After having seen the incredible potential of the technological means that you have at your disposal, here is a list of the Italian blogs considered among the best.
Corsinfad
on the Italian market a useful resource with term papers, notes, news from the school world for students and teachers is https://www.corsinfad.it
1 – YellowRedBlue
It is a Blog created by an arts teacher and therefore deals with Art and Image. It is mainly aimed at teachers and students of lower secondary schools, offering an excellent variety of contents, as well as information on the relevant Comprehensive Institute. By visiting this site, you can get ideas for organizing theoretical lessons and practical exercises, consult the tutorials and activate small workshops to make children practice manually creating the techniques studied in theory. There are also online educational lessons with videos made in a simple way and able to entertain, entertain and obviously teach at the same time. To complete the offer, there is a large archive, school programs divided by class and year, and a section dedicated to competitions and projects not only in the artistic but also in the literary field. Between lessons from Chiaroscuro, tributes to Picasso and Van Gogh, homework proposals for the holidays and objects to create together with students, this Blog represents an (almost) inexhaustible source of excellent ideas to expand your
program.
2 – Twinkl
Here we are at a higher level because Twinkl is a huge platform that offers a myriad of educational resources that you can download for free – however, there are more levels and “premium” paid programs – to offer children a variety of products, even in multiple languages. We are talking about cards, quizzes, exercises but also web applications and virtual “showcases” where you can share the work done by the classes. The hundreds of thousands of content are updated daily and in addition to existing one’s teachers can create and customize their own offering via the TwinkleCreate tool. The immense community is able to satisfy the most varied needs, and therefore resources in the BES sector could not be lacking, both for teachers and for parents.
3 – I arrive
The Blog conceived from a teacher who teaches in a junior high school offers multiple resources including the possibility of drawing on projects in various fields (Social, Environment, Inclusion, Literature, History and Geography) and building a thematic path through reading, creative writing, practical and artistic activities; current topics of high relevance for the developmental age of preadolescence and emotional development are also addressed, such as anorexia, bullying, sexuality and all those areas that are deeply felt in a delicate age such as that of middle school children . The Blog also offers educational support material such as tables, concept maps, summaries and simplified overviews of the various topics; everything can be downloaded for free.
A curiosity: as the creator of the Blog writes, “Arengo was the ancient street of the medieval villages where trade and exchanges took place. Arringo is the dialectal name of the street that embraces the old part of San Vito Romano … a sort of ring road So the blog wants to be a virtual square, a meeting place and exchange of ideas for all those who believe in school “.
4 – Padlet
Padlet is a highly performing tool through which you can do many things. Technically speaking, it is a virtual bulletin board optimized for use on the network: it works with all types of operating systems, you can insert and share multimedia content such as video, audio, images and links to external links and is therefore perfect for integrate the various technologies into teaching. The possibilities are therefore almost infinite: from the documentation of experiences to the management of discussions and group work, from the creation of digital galleries to itineraries, programs and the editing of a portfolio, it is possible to build any type of communication activity in real time towards everyone. connected users.
5 – Canva
Have you ever thought of Canva as an educational resource? Probably not, as this platform is mainly used to create images to share on social networks; in reality it is a very rich source to draw from as – even with the free basic account – you can create diagrams, information brochures, concept / mind maps, presentations / posters and much more. The files can be created / saved in various formats, suitable for all sharable technologies.
6 – Educational blog
The name of this blog unequivocally embodies its purpose. Within this site you can find numerous ideas to expand the presentation of all the first and second grade school subjects; through indepth articles, shared programs, newspaper articles and news, you can take advantage of the broadest vision of teaching / entertainment, also because there are two large sections dedicated to reading and film advice, as well as extracurricular and holiday initiatives. The contents can be viewed in real time or downloaded in PDF and E-book format and used at the most appropriate time. Social sharing is the soul of this blog, which also manages to conquer even the most demanding kids.
7 – Ilgomitolo
If you have not found the blog that best suits your needs in the above list, there is always an alternative: The Il Gomitolo site is a platform that collects the best blogs of the moment and provides direct links with a brief description of the peculiarities and offer of every single space. All that remains is to consult the list and discover many new resources.
James Robert
