I recently evaluated the blog "The Innovative Educator" by Lisa Nielsen. The author of the blog describes herself as someone who found school boring and irrelevant, which caused her to want to become a public school educator who works to help change that for others. In her blog, she writes that she is able to change school from being boring and irrelevant by finding and sharing innovative ways to prepare students for relevant and real-world success. Essentially, she wants to helps students and educators recognize their voice in conversations, issues, and policies that affect them. Lisa Nielsen has received recognition for her work by being awarded the "Teacher of the Year" award, as well as the "Making IT Happen Award," from the International Society of Technology Educators.
The blog itself features both useful and interesting posts that relate to how technology can be incorporated into the classroom in order to provide a fun learning environment. There are posts beginning in 2008, which can be viewed in her "Archives" link on the right-hand side of the blog. Her most recent post, written today, is a "#Throwback Thursday" that was originally written in 2008 (http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2015/01/throwback-thursday-value-of-using-cell.html). It specifically discusses the use of cell phones for learning, and the ultimate value cell phones have in enhancing education.
Older posts feature content related to ideas such as "how to connect with your students," "how hashtags can be used," and "the hottest posts everybody's reading." Something particularly interesting about this blog is that the author allows guest posts from credible sources. The post written on Tuesday, January 27, 2015 is actually not written by Lisa Nielsen, but by a guest blogger named James Alan Sturtevant. It is written in a similar fashion to Ms. Nielsen's posts, also featuring pictures and a link to his book that will help teachers learn more about connecting with students.(http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2015/01/struggling-to-connect-with-students-let.html)
Aside from posts, the blog features a variety of other links titled "About," "My Books," "Groups," "Speaking," "News," and "Reach Me." The "My Books" page has both information about the books she has written, as well as links to purchase the books. There is also a video that Lisa Nielsen and her co-author made that shares their thoughts about using cell phones in education. (http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/p/my-book.html)
The "Group" page of the blog has a list of online groups in which members of the group discuss sharing ideas, links, and questions for feedback. The groups are free to join by simply clicking the links directly from the page. To the right of the "Group" page, blog readers can see the "Speaking" page that provides information on how to get Lisa Nielsen to speak at a conference or event. There is contact information, topics she speaks on, clients for whom she has spoken, and a demo of her speaking. At the bottom of the page, there are "Participants Tweets" from people who have heard her speak that include quotes such as "You were amazing today! I can't wait to teach," and "Lisa rocked. People were blown away." 
The "News" page of the blog actually redirects you to a new link on a website titled "Newsle." The site is essentially a different blog that features articles written by other sources that have discussed Lisa Nielsen. Each article appears to be written by credible sources such as "USA Today," and "TIME," and can be clicked on and viewed directly from the website. (https://newsle.com/InnovativeEdu)
The last page of the blog is the "Reach Me" page on which all of Lisa Nielsen's contact information is displayed. Blog readers can reach her via Facebook, Twitter, Skype, G-Chat, Second Life, Google Plus, Google Voice, and Email (http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/p/contact-me.html). addition to the pages located at the top of her blog, Innovative Educators Blog also displays gadgets on the side of the page including a "Welcome," "Subscribe To," "Google Plus Followers," "My Book," "What's Hot," "Categories," "Archives," and a "Search" bar. Each gadget will provide you with information, allow you to see what's currently trending on topics related to technology, view categories Lisa Nielsen blogged about, or search through all the posts she has written since she began the blog in 2008.
I thoroughly enjoyed evaluating this blog, and I feel that it's a great source for teachers who are looking for ways to have fun while incorporating technology in their classrooms. Lisa Nielsen seems to be a very trustworthy source and from my gatherings, she is great at providing educators with ideas on making technology and teaching fun. A link to her blog is posted below!
