Better late than never...what blogs are you reading?

A confession to start - I have been late on my last two blog posts here. I could use the excuse my date (24th) has been close to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday but I won't at this time.

My Google Reader pulled up an odd post from one of my favorite blogs - LeaderTalk founder Scott McLeod's Dangerously Irrelevant - that was a bit odd. It appeared to be listing "great blogs for busy administrators" and had a ? in the spot where it was supposed to list 20 of the best blogs for school leaders. However, when I clicked the link to the post it took me to an error page. I always appreciate Scott's leadership and sense of humor, so I considered this might be a challenge for us to find some good blogs for busy administrators. While I won't pretend my reading list is anything unique, I thought sharing what we're reading might be a good way to start the new year. My top blogs are as follows:

• LeaderTalk (obviously)
• Dangerously Irrelevant (listed above)
• The Blue Skunk Blog - Mankato, Minnesota's Doug Johnson shares his insight and humor regarding school technology issues.
• About.com: Special Education. These are very short posts but are usually focused on quality topics regarding special education.
• Ready 4 K: A great blog focused on early childhood education advocacy.
• MASA Blog: Minnesota Association of School Administrators' director Charlie Kyte has a great blog focused on Minnesota schools and leadership issues.
• ASCD Blog: From the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
• 2 cents worth: David Warlick has a well-known blog on school technology issues.
• Weblogg-ed: Another great school leadership/technology blog by Will Richardson.

The blog that I miss the most...

G-Town Talks by Kim Moritz. Kim - we need you back in the blogosphere!

I have also been pleased to see authors of popular books to be blogging about their ideas. Three that I have read in the last six months:

• Say Yes to Know by Dr. David Walsh
• Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath
• True North by Bill George (this blog hasn't been very active in the last several months - still a great book and was a quality blog.)

What are you reading? Is there one blog that just lifts your spirits? Makes you think? Challenges your assumptions?

Happy New Year! Thanks for all you are doing for kids and for contributing to a wonderful professional development tool!

Comments

[Janet]

This was a most engaging read. great post! very comprehensive and quite some great thoughts!

[Scott McLeod]

That post was one I was working on for this coming Thursday. I accidentally hit 'Post' by mistake instead of 'Save as Draft.' I saved it back as a draft but the damage was done. Curse those RSS feeds!

Great post, though! =)

[Rick]

Hopefully you're all reading Dan Meyer's excellent blog. Even if I wasn't in education, I'd want this one in my reader. http://blog.mrmeyer.com if you're not there already.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the mention!

Some blogs I find of consistent value and insight are:

Around the Corner
http://www.edsupport.cc/mguhlin/index.htm

Assorted Stuff
http://www.assortedstuff.com/

Ed Tech Journeys
http://preilly.wordpress.com/

All the best in this new year!

Doug

[Matt Hillmann]

Thanks, Doug. Much like you, I clean out my RSS reader every so often and it is time to add a couple of new blogs. Your suggestions here, as always, look like they have great potential.

[Kimberly Moritz]

Thanks Matt, I missed being here so I'm back now!