The Lower Hudson Regional Information Center's own Peter Reilly has been awarded the 2006 Edublog Best Newcomer Award for his blog, "Ed Tech Journeys."
Mr. Reilly, co-director of the LHRIC, learned of his award when the results were announced during an international Skype conference call Sunday morning on Ed Tech Talks. He shares the Best Newcomer Award with Paz Pena, a blogger from Chile.
The Edublog Awards were given out by edublogs.org, which was founded several years ago is aimed at providing teachers, students, researchers, librarians, writers and other education professionals with freely available emerging technologies. The 12 winning blogs are international in scope and included winners from Germany, Portugal, Denmark, Australia, Canada and the U.S.
Mr. Reilly said, "I thought long and hard before adding my voice to the very crowded world of educational blogs. The biggest question I had about committing to educational blogging was whether or not I had anything meaningful to add to the conversation."
What he learned, said Mr. Reilly, was that his blog had a specific audience and purpose, and that he wanted to examine "the changes brought on by educational technology and educational transformation from a human point of view."
"Ed Tech Journeys is my attempt to bring the power of the heart to our discourse," said Mr. Reilly. "It is through using our hearts, as well as our minds, that we will inspire educators in classrooms around the world, to step into their own greatness."
Mr. Reilly, 56, thanked "the many talented and trailblazing bloggers that have opened the way for newcomers like me. It is a testament to the new world we live in that by publishing and sharing our best with the world, we inspire and encourage virtual strangers to raise their voices and manifest their gifts."
He also paid tribute to classroom teachers, specifically mentioning his fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Woodruff, "who recognized my gift of writing and asked me to start a class newspaper." Of course, added Mr. Reilly, the newpaper was mimeographed.
Mr. Reilly closed his acceptance speech with the following wish, "May every child, in every classroom, wherever they are in the world, have a teacher who sees their unique gifts, and who encourages those gifts to come forth."
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