January 6, 2016
10 Hits and 10 Misses for 2015–Ask a Tech Teacher
Since I started this blog five years ago, I’ve had over 4.8 million visitors to the 1,422 articles I’ve written on integrating technology into the classroom. They may be about how to use wikis or blogs in the classroom or what I’ve learned from my students as we got through another tech week. I have regular features like:
I post a lot of lesson plans that have worked for me and share my thoughts on other ideas that affect teachers trying to tech-ify their classrooms. If you’ve just arrived at Ask a Tech Teacher, start here.
It always surprises me what readers find to be the most and least provocative. The latter is as likely to be a post I put heart and soul into, sure I was sharing Very Important Information, as the former. Talk about humility.
Before you look at what statistics say are the most popular posts, tell me what your most popular categories are by voting in this poll:
[polldaddy poll=8383517]
Here they are–my top 10 and bottom 10 of 2015 (though I’ve skipped any that have to do with website reviews and tech tips. Those, I cover in other posts):
Top Ten Hits
- Hour of Code Suggestions by Grade Level
- Do You Miss Kerpoof? Try These 34 Alternatives
- Homeschool Day at the Getty
- 21 Holiday Websites For Your Students
- 10 Tips for Teachers who Struggle with Technology
- 20 Great Research Websites for Kids
- Keyboarding
- Digital Citizenship
- 13 Reasons For and 3 Against Technology in the Classroom
- 23 Websites for Poetry Month
What conclusions do you draw from this list? I’m amazed by the Hour of Code listing. That article was just published in December and still it beat out lots of articles that had the entire year to collect votes.
Here are the Top Ten Misses–posts I thought were great, but you-all didn’t visit as much. One thing I figured out this year that pushes the link-heavy-posts in the Top Ten Hits over the pedagogic-infused Top Ten Misses is that the Hits are open to dozens of students to visit. I’ve had days where I’d get a 1000 hits in an hour because teachers posted the list as a resource for students. Most of the sites on the Top Ten Misses are consumed individually, over coffee and a donut. I’m not sure how to adjust for that…
Top Ten Misses
- 10 Space Websites That Will Launch Your Class Study
- 3rd Grade Websites on Economics
- Computer Shortkeys That Streamline Your Day
- 5 Best Practices for Digital Portfolios
- Let Students Learn From Failure
- 11 Things I Love About Common Core
- Why use a Digital Portfolio–and 9 ways to do it
- 29 Online Educational Activities Kids Will Love This Summer
- Use Google Safe Search
- What’s a Tech Teacher Do All Day?
Did you have a favorite you agreed/disagreed with? I’d love to know. Take a moment to answer this poll:
[polldaddy poll=5798595]
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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-8 technology for 15 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, CSG Master Teacher, webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, CAEP reviewer, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and a weekly contributor to TeachHUB. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.
