Tampa Is…?

Blogs about the local school systems, also known as “edublogs.”

Public education is paid for by taxpayers, and public educators and administrators must teach our children under the watchful eye of all of us.  Luckily, some of us pay a bit more attention to the goings-on, and I’d like to point those watchers out to you.

Blogs by Local Teachers:

• Suzie Creamcheese writes The Wall - “This blog has been designed to give the teachers and employees of the Hillsborough County School District an outlet to vent, rant, and most importantly share information and suggestions… “
• The Goader writes Eskay Espresso - “I teach high school students various subjects in social studies. A common thread that runs through all of my lessons is one of citizenship. Participation and cooperation are necessary for citizens to live in communities. Both require an informed individual who knows enough to make thoughtful decisions.”
• School board member April Griffin writes Sound Off And Be Heard - “I represent all Hillsborough County schools and voters… I represent you. Tell me what you really think.”
• Longitudinal Observer writes Motel Special Ed - “My reason for this blog came about because one of my children was, by virtue of his existence, sent down a different path for his socialization process. Through the course of his life, we had the benefit of numerous people and a public system that provided him his opportunity for success. For those I will be eternally indebted to. I am here because they were there for him, and he can not thank them. Through the course of his life, we had the inopportunity to be subjugated to a few people and a public system fraught with deceit, disingenuity and contempt. I am here because there are few who can or will stand up to them.”
• Public Education - Politics, Business and Education - “How Politics and Business Obstruct Education”
• PRO on HCPS - Poor Richard’s Observations - “Connecting the Dots for those who do not see the big picture.”
• Sisyphus used to write Uniting for Quality Education in Hillsborough, FL (HCSD) - Teachers are bound by our code of ethics to speak out when we know of harmful practices and procedures to our students. This is why I WAS here.  Editor’s note - this blog has been abandoned, but I include it on this list, in the hopes they decide to come back.

Blogs by others interested in the subject of education:

• USF Professor Sherman Dorn writes at Sherman Dorn - Work to understand how schools have been social institutions - “In addition to writing books on dropping out and accountability, Sherman Dorn is the coeditor of books on school communities and Florida education policy, the author of several articles and book chapters on the history of special education, and several pieces on academic freedom in higher education.”
• Lee Drury De Cesare’s Casting-Room Couch - Lee is not a current teacher, but a frequent critic of SDHC and MaryEllen Elia.
• The Gradebook - St. Pete Times education blog.
• Teens @ the Library - not really critical of HC public schools, but these kids go there.

Finally, a couple of related websites.

• Hillsborough County School Board
• Superintendent MaryEllenElia
• Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association (aka “the teacher’s union”)

If you have any interest in education or what’s going on in local schools, go visit each of the above blogs.  Also, if you happen to know of any other websites that focus on K-12 here in Tampa Bay, I’d love to learn about them.

BlogOrlando 2008 aka BlogOrlando 3 is this Saturday in Winter Park.  Along with Chuck Welch of Lakeland Local, I’ll be a session leader for “hyperlocal.”

While in Winter Park, I plan on lunching at Bakely’s on Saturday, and if you don’t already have plans, I’d love to meet all of the Bay area bloggers that are going (walking map to Bakely’s).

There are several folks going to BlogOrlando from the Tampa Bay area, and more than one has contacted me for a ride.  Unfortunately, I plan to make a small getaway out of it, and am spending Saturday night with my family over there.

I’d be happy to give a ride from Brandon at 715am Satuday morning, but will not be able to bring you back.

Do you need a ride?  Leave a comment with contact info.

Can you offer a ride?  Please leave a comment with contact info.

Congratulations to Deborah Newell Tornello, aka LitBrit!  Her blog was chosen by the Creative Loafing staff as the Best Local Blog in their Best of the Bay 2008.:

Staff Pick
BEST LOCAL BLOG: Litbrit

She’s progressive. She’s a hottie. And she is a major Frank Zappa fan, posting little-known clips of the late composer-rocker on her blog each Friday. So what’s not to like…

Check out LitBrit at  litbrit.blogspot.com. We love Deborah’s writing too.  We just wish she’d lose the blogspot and get her own domain (godaddy says LitBrit.com is available!).

Oh, and thanks to the great writers here at Sticks of Fire, and all of you wonderful readers - lurkers and commentors alike - Sticks of Fire was voted number one in Best Local Blog in 2008 by readers of Creative Loafing.

We don’t like to brag, but will gladly accept a first place award from Creative Loafing / Weekly Planet for the fourth straight year.

• First place Creative Loafing Best of the Bay 2008 - Best Local Blog, Readers’ Picks.
• First place Creative Loafing Best of the Bay 2007 - Best Local Blog, Readers’ Choice.
• First place Creative Loafing Best of the Bay 2006, Reader’s choice for Best Local Blog.
• First place Weekly Planet’s Best of the Bay 2005, Editor’s choice for Best Local Website.
• Third place Weekly Planet’s Best of the Bay 2005, Reader’s choice for Best Local Blog.

Check out all the winners at Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay 2008.

According to the print edition of this week’s Creative Loafing, they received over 3,000 ballots for the 2008 Best of the Bay readers’ poll.

We are proud to announce that Sticks of Fire has been named a finalist for Best Local Blog, along with two other great blogs, Seminole Heights and Creative Loafing.

We also want to congratulate the finalists in all other categories, including our friends, Bubba the Love Sponge, the Hogans (by the way, Bubba and Hulk are gonna be on TV together), Gasparilla, Rick Baker, the potential St. Pete Waterfront Stadium, Brian Blair, the Riverwalk, and Ronda Storms.

We’ll find out all the winners at The Loafies, CL’s BOTB award show to be held at the Tampa Theatre next Tuesday at 8pm (red carpet at 7):

The CL staff sort of went ’round the bend last year when one of us said “Hey, let’s do a Best of the Bay awards show!” and the rest of us didn’t duct tape his mouth shut. So we went ahead and did it. Called it The Loafies. And you know what? It worked. The show was fun and funny and lively and glamorous (if we do say so ourselves) and actually came off with nary a hitch. So we’re doing it again. This year’s Loafies show is held at the same venue, Tampa Theatre, with witty and urbane host Brendan McLaughlin, anchor man for ABC Action News. We’ll hand out lots of Best of the Bays, of course, and have guest presenters and all that good stuff. Local Americana act Have Gun, Will Travel plays a classic cover (a surprise), and Basic Rock Outfit, the Damon Fowler Group and Daylight District are also scheduled to perform. And it gets better still. We’ve set up an after-party at an unfinished space a couple of blocks down Franklin Street from Tampa Theatre. It’s free to anyone who attends The Loafies. And as if that weren’t enough, two magic words: drink tickets.

If you want to go, you can get your tickets at Tampa Theater for $10 or online for $12.

BlogOrlando 2008 is set for September 25-27 at Rollins College in Winter Park.

Voce Communications, in partnership with Rollins College will host the third edition of this FREE event that was open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike from Florida and anywhere else. We bring together a good cross-section of folks to discuss blogging, podcasting, public relations, social media, citizen’s journalism and other related topics. The event was as much a social/family gathering as it is a ‘work’ gathering.

BlogOrlando is held in the “unconference” format, which is a participant-driven conference centered around a theme or purpose. A “session leader” simply begins the conversation on a given topic, and the “audience” drives the direction of the discussion.

Hyku’s Josh Hallett brings together a good cross-section of folks to discuss blogging, podcasting, public relations, social media, citizen’s journalism and other related topics. The event is as much a social/family gathering as it is a ‘work’ gathering.

For BlogOrlando’s third annual event, I have again been asked to co-lead a session, this time with Chuck Welch of Lakeland Local. Our general topic will explore the meaning of “hyperlocal,” and attempt to find out what it is, how to find it, and why it’s important. Depending on audience requests, subtopics may include working with various media people (TV, radio, newspaper, websites), mining government and media data, creating maps (crime, business, etc.), ethics, and more.

Other sessions at BlogOrlando include Business Marketing with Social Media, New Tools for Journalism, Monetizing your Website, Online Professionalism, Politics, and many, many more. Take a look at BlogOrlando 2008 Sessions for the lineup thus far.

In past years, Journalists, PR folks, website managers, and bloggers have gotten much out of the unconference. Those of you who have any interest at all in the future of internet communications may also want to check it out - after all, it is FREE.

Locals already registered to attend include Ashli Cooper, Michael VanDervort, Michael Bishop, Tribune food guy Jeff Houck, WordPress Developer (and Brandonite) Mark Jaquith, Jim Johnson, Dustin Mooney, David Risley, Derrick Daye, Cathalain Carter, Darby Critendon, Carrie Currie, Aaron Bates, Lakeland Ledger’s Barry Friedman, and more.

I hope to see an even larger contingent of Tampa Bay area bloggers, journalists, and website enthusiasts out there this year, so please go register for BlogOrlando 2008.

Your Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in the American League. Wow. With all the attention being paid to the team this year, we thought it would be a good idea to take you on a tour of Rays websites, so you know which to avoid.

The Official Ones
The Official Site of the Tampa Bay Rays is raysbaseball.com (but you probably already figured that).

More importantly, sites related to the proposed St. Pete waterfront ballpark include the Rays’ site Major League Downtown, detractors POWW: Preserve our Wallets and Waterfront, and proponents Fans for Waterfront Stadium. Out of all these the least biased and best written is the St Pete Times blog Baseball Frankness, which comes highly recommended.

Local media has a handful of Rays-related pages, too, including tampabay.com’s Baseball: Rays | tampabay.com, TBO.com’s Tampa Bay Rays - from TBO.com and the HeraldTribune.com - Tampa Bay Rays. From those you can find media blogs such as Rays Report with Marc Lancaster, The Heater: Inside Rays baseball.

The Fan Blogs
Of course, some of the better Rays sites are independent efforts:

DRays Bay is the Godfather of Rays blogs, having been around the longest and providing some of the most detailed information for Rays fans.

RaysIndex is no spring chicken either and provides some of the best roundups on the Rays and their emerging blogosphere.

Rays of Light has become one of our favorite reads as well for their more whimsical approach to the Rays.

Rays Anatomy/Outs Per Swing is posting more frequently now that the season has started but there is still little to differentiate it from the above 3 blogs.

Of course, with fan efforts, some are just terribly written, updated infrequently or simply splogs. DevilRayNews.com hasn’t been updated since May 8. Other sites to avoid include Rays Homeplate, Devilrays Locker. I simply am unable to read a single post at devilraysfanatic.com blog - I can’t tell if it’s written horribly or just a splog. Either way, it’s terrible.

Blogspot-based blogs include Rays the Roof, Tampa Bay Rays , and the MLB: Tampa Bay Devil Rays Blog. Stat geeks and forum fans might like The Rays Database @ RaysBB.com. It’s not a blog, but keeps all sorts of statistics about the team. Additionally, the ultimate stats site, Baseball-Reference.com has a Rays webpage.

The Cheat Sheet
In no particular order here are the top 5 sites we recommend checking out:
Ballpark Frankness
DRays Bay
The Heater
Rays Index
Rays of Light

Did we miss any? Throw ‘em in the comments.

A couple of local bloggers are heading over to the Rock ‘n’ Sports cafe in Centro Ybor around 4pm, if anyone wants to chit chat about, well, anything at all…

We accidentally came across The Home Page for the Class of 1958 Henry B. Plant High School, “Dedicated to bringing the alumni of the Class of 1958 at H. B. Plant High School together no matter where they are in the World!”

Seems like the reunion is scheduled for April 18-20 at the Westshore Hotel.

The front page is brucemorehead.com, and it looks like the site is run by Bruce Morehead, an Airport Systems Integration Consultant who also tracks the Muirhead Clan Society. It also looks like Morehead is a bit of a gearhead, and raced in the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. He now drives a Ferarri.

brucemorehead.com is our random local website of the week.