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Blogs as Learning Portfolios

This week I had the privilege of attending the Mid-Atlantic Personalize Learning Conference. There were a lot of inspiring people doing great things for kids and adults in their learning environment one of which was the amazing George Couros, which performed Wednesday's Keynote and a breakout session. Below is one of George's TED talks for your enjoyment:


During his breakout session George talked about helping our kids (and ourselves) create a positive digital footprint. He noted that as the person in charge of hiring for his district that if an applicant didn't have a positive digital footprint they went in the piles of applications he would NOT consider for the job. This is a critical learning for all educators because if we aren't helping our kids create that positive digital footprint we are leaving it up to chance that all our and our learner's hard work will reach it's potential. I don't know about you, but I don't like to leave things up to chance or leave a shadow of a doubt. 

George proposes that every learner should maintain a Growth Portfolio through a student created blog that they maintain from K-12 grade. This kind of blog shows learning over time, is a great reflection tool, builds in a love for delayed gratification in learning, grit to tackle large projects and tasks, and builds a positive digital footprint. It really is the swiss army knife of projects! George has got lots of justifications and resources for blogging in education that you can find here. 

I know, I know you aren't a teacher of writing... you are a "Tech. teacher". We're all facilitators of learning opportunities for the whole child and taking care of the whole child, that's it. Humans aren't compartmentalized, learning isn't compartmentalized. We need to show kids how things apply to all areas of learning. As the saying goes, "Everything is everything." 

Let's fully embrace #growthmindset, going #1toWorld, and #DigCit inside our classrooms!

As always I welcome comments. Let me know if there are ways I can support you!
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