Personal Learning Network - Google Reader

I had never heard of google reader before this class, and I am excited about this new discovery. I definitely waste a lot of time checking my friends' blogs to see if there is anything new, so this could save me a lot of time!

The blogs/resources that I chose for this assignment are:

1. Jim Burke's blog He has written some books for teachers and also started the English Companion Ning, which is a great online community for English teachers. He seems to update his blog frequently and I hope to see some good ideas.

2. The Book Whisperer This is a blog I found on a teacher publication site which might be promising. She seems to post booklists and ideas for reluctant readers.

3. Enhanced English Teacher This is a blog I found about using technology in an English teaching classroom.

4. Families and Literacy This is a blog put together by the BYU library which features websites, tips, and other information to promote literacy.

5. My View From Here My mom is an English teacher, and I knew she had several different blogs. This is the one she uses to write her thoughts about English teaching in general.

An Abundance of Al(l)isons

This is not related to technology, but in looking at the class list I noticed that there are 4 Alison/Allisons in this class! It pretty much blows my mind. I don't think I've ever been outnumbered by my own name before, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it....

Experimenting

This is about the 20th blog background I have tried. I'm not sure if I like it or hate it, but it is what I am sticking with for now. The little spiral reminds me of a notebook, which is kind of schooly, and I also wanted something colorful. Well, we will see if this grows on me or not.

First Post

This is the first post for my personal learning environment. I have a personal blog that use to write about the events of my life, but I have been thinking about making a more professional blog for a while now. I am excited that this class will motivate me to get started!