Blogs and Blog Readers

I cannot lie... looking at blogs nauseates me! It ALWAYS makes me feel inadequate, like I don't do enough in my classroom. I always wonder "who are these people? Do they really teach in addition to making amazing things for their classrooms and for others, along with having spotless classrooms ready to be photographed on a whim and blogged about?"  The same is true of the librarian blogs. How do these people have time to create such elaborate and thoughtful posts, materials, and reviews, along with their job? I can barely organize their blogs, let alone imagine creating what they create. It amazes me!

I am still not entirely sure what Tumblr is... I even read an article called "What is Tumblr". Is it like Facebook, but without the friends? Is it more comparable to pinterest? Is it just another blog reader? Still not quite sure...

I chose Bloglovin as my blog reader. To me, it was more aesthetically appealing than the others. I also found it easier to search for blogs. It would auto populate as I was searching, which would help me find the blog I was looking for, but would also allow me to see other blogs as well. I also liked that it would recommend other similar blogs to the blog that I started following.

There are some teacher blogs that I follow, but I used this project to look for "librarian friendly" blogs. I found these blogs through pinterest. Pinterest is almost like a search engine for blogs.

I began following School Library Displays This was one of the recommendations from  Dr. Perry, but was also popping up on pinterest. I like that this is a forum where librarians can post displays that can be looked at. It's a great reference tool for librarians.

I also began following The Bookfairy Goddess. Her website is a compilation of library tips. She has technology information, displays, books, lessons, ect. Her blog is cute, catchy and easy to follow. While I was looking at her items on pinterest, I came across Library Learners and realized I was looking at a blog created by the librarian at my husbands school. Her name is Cari Young and her blog was amazing! She has great ideas for centers in the library. The ideas were ones I would use in my classroom now as well. It was a great compilation of materials and ideas in one place. I had no idea that I had such a valuable resource so close to home!

I wanted to round out my blog collection, so I found one that focused on books and one that focused on technology. I found Mr. Schu Reads. His blog was a plethora of reading knowledge. I particularly liked that he had book trailers, author interviews and book reviews. Dr. Perry also had us follow him on twitter so his blog is an extension of that. The technology blog I came across was Technology Rocks. Seriously. She has posts for free apps, how to use apps, and technology tidbits. She also has free printables which don't all relate to technology, but they are cute none-the-less.

This is just a start. I know as I continue on this journey, that my followings will grow (and hopefully my followers as well) as I figure this all out. :)