And the Eddie goes to…..

Hey Kids,

Do you watch awards shows on t.v.?  The entertainment industry has tons of awards they pass out every year to outstanding performers in many fields.   I can think of the Oscars, the Emmys, the Grammys, the Tonys, the Golden Globes, the CMAs, the People’s Choice, and the Kids’ Choice Awards right off the top of my head.  Writers vie for the Pulitzer, the Newbery, the Caldecott.  The Nobel Prize recognizes accomplishments in science, literature, medicine, economics, and peace.

Well, don’t you think it’s time that teachers and students get a little recognition?  The folks at Edublogs sure do, and to make sure that happens, they have created their own award:

The Eddie

Use the above link to nominate your favorite blogs, bloggers, and posts.

We would like to give a friendly shout out to our friends at Huzzah!  image

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for nominating us!  We are thrilled and humbled by your kind words.  We would like to let the world know that if it were not for Huzzah, and the intrepid Jan Smith, we are not sure we would have survived our first few months of our blogging adventure.  Huzzah is an inspiring blog with unique concepts, both in content and presentation, in each post.  Not only is it plain to see the creativity, work ethic, and high standards that occur in class on a daily basis, the genuine love of learning that passes from teacher to students kindles the “lighting of the fire” that is education at its finest.  One needs only to read through comments left by students and teacher to see them engaged in such topics as: destination imagination, inquiry questions, back channels, the Dalai Lama, or Glocal.  Very often I have never heard of the words used to describe what the Huzzahnians are doing in their classrooms; I am always impressed not only by the content, but also by the style of communication from Ms. Smith and her students.  All of the students are stellar in the quality comments they write, and we have had multiple occasions to use Faith’s blog and comments to us as an example of truly inspired writing.  Here in Florida, we are learning about writing and blogging from the very best practitioners, who just happen to live 2,727 miles away.

Learning across the miles!

Learning across the miles!

imageWe also discovered some new blogging friends this year.  Mrs. Rombach Reads is filled with excellent book suggestions and cool gizmos and gadgets on this class blog.  My students love the worm on the hook, and like a fish, we have been caught.  This week Mrs. Rombach challenges her students to add 9 items to their student blogs and she offers them tools like Voki and Padlet to help them on their way.  Truly, reading outstanding blogs like this and following the student directions is how I learn to improve my own class blog.  And just look at her clever title to this week’s post, Who Let the Blogs Out?  (I keep singing and adding in woof, woof, woof, woof on my own!)  So fun!  Mrs. Rombach, thank you for helping us learn!

There are SO MANY wonderful blogs out there.  Whenever I can, I travel to blogs, always learning as I go.  My kids are loving discussing Minecraft with Mr. Miller in California.  I still have a goal, which I will get to soon, of adding video to my posts, thanks to the live action window into Mr. Webb’s classroom in New Zealand.  We also got a chance to Skype with Mrs. Emerick’s class, Making Waves in Sixth Grade, last year.  So cool.

In my quest for knowledge, I am also trying to navigate the world of Twitter.  Through this outlet, I have met even more educators and read their words of wisdom on their blogs.  One of my favorite posts was about harnessing the power of social media and was written by teacher Derek Oldfield.  I have also been blessed to meet. via Twitter, Joy Kirr, a plethora of information and, like Jan Smith at Huzzah!, kind guidance and help.

No matter where they are  or what their subject or grade level, these teachers are kind souls who want to learn about and connect with, and help others learn about and connect with, our world.  They are most deserving of their own Award.

Thank you, Edublogs, for the opportunity to share  the wonderful teaching and learning with the world.  Good luck to all the nominees! We’ll be looking for you on the red carpet!

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5 thoughts on “And the Eddie goes to…..

  1. Hi, Mrs. Donofrio & Co.!

    WHOOP!

    You people are so AMAZINGLY AWESOME that I couldn’t possibly put it all into this comment. I am very touched that you consider my posts and comments at a high enough level to mention on your FANTASTIC blog! This is a very high honour to me and Thank You SO MUCH. It takes a lot of effort and editing to come out with a new post and I’m very glad to hear that my endeavors are appreciated. I’m really happy that you can use my creations as material and examples. If you don’t mind, I have a Tip for you: This magic word will help you keep your writing fresh: SYNONYMS. Use them at every opportunity if you find yourself overusing a word.
    Thank you once again for this wonderful gift!

    Faith
    (PS I have recently come out with a post about my two White Calls, if you would like to check that out 🙂 )

    • WHOOP right back at you, Faith! Thank you for sharing two incredibly important concepts for good writing: EFFORT and EDITING! So many people think the same amount of effort goes into writing as goes into reading. It requires so much more work to put words on the paper that people want to read than it does to read those words. I love your magic word, and I have a partner for it: THESAURUS, kind of a dinosaur-looking word, but one not to be afraid of as it is the portal for the magic of synonyms. We will absolutely read your post about White Calls, although it may not be until next week as we are headed to a five day weekend to celebrate our American holiday of Thanksgiving. We are grateful for you, your class, and your teacher for enriching our learning. Do you have a similar holiday in Canada?
      ~Mrs. Donofrio

      • Hello again, Mrs. Donofrio & Co.,

        Yes, we do have a sort of Canadian version of Thanksgiving, but it’s in October! This year it was on the 13th. Funny how we both have our own versions of the same thing, eh?
        I completely understand, I would take those precious days off to do nothing too! I’m looking forwards to your comment, though, because you also write very good ones! I hope you enjoy your weekend!

        Faith

  2. Well I am not surprised by the nomination and I would say that it is extremely well deserved. I saw the post on the Huzzah blog and I thought, yes, its wonderful words and a wonderful post but I think that its fully deserved. Good luck with the short listing for the finalists.

    I can’t recommend video strongly enough for your site – and I’d train up some students to take care of the process. This is a confession from Mr Webb, but the videos that he puts online, he doesn’t make them, the students do, and since the last two years they’ve done all the editing and everything too!

    Congratulations again on your well deserved nomination, which comes with it recognition worldwide (well deserved) and even more visitors to your site.

    Mr Webb and Room One, Auroa Primary School, Taranaki, New Zealand.
    mrwebbauroa.blogspot.com

    • Dear Mr. Webb and Room One,
      Thank you so much for your kind words and also for the video tip. I agree wholeheartedly that the experience is best when the students are the creators. Perhaps some of them can train me, and then I can train others! One of the best parts of blogging is the true collaboration it engenders, not only around the world with other classrooms, but within our own four walls as well. As we zoom into the technology era, my digitally savvy students often help me with the bells and whistles as I attend to their needs with the writing and reading. All of us together make a powerful team.
      We know you are soon to be on vacation. Thank you for your support and help. We will continue to visit and comment and learn from you before you are off for the holidays.
      ~Mrs. Donofrio and kids
      Venice, Florida, USA

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