As regular readers know, I periodically publish posts sharing what some organizations list as the “most popular” sites or services. I find them interesting and sometimes useful (see The Best Places To Find The Most Popular (& Useful) Resources For Educators –2011).

Every six months or so, I also publish Postrank’s listing of their determination of the “most engaging” education blogs (it changes weekly). I take all these lists with a grain of salt, but it can’t hurt to see a list of who might  have important roles in the online discussion about education. Obviously, the usefulness of Postrank’s criteria is very debatable.  At the very least, it’s a source of potential new blogs to read.

You can see the entire PostRank list here. And here are the “top ten”:

1. Free Technology For Teachers

2. Mindshift

3. New York Times Education

4. Teacher Lingo

5. Voice of San Diego

6. Angela Maiers

7. Big Education Ape

8. Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day

9. Joanne Jacobs

10. Cool Cat Teacher

I regularly share my picks for the most useful posts of each month. I also have tried publish a list of the month’s most popular posts, based on the number of times they are “clicked-on.” I’m very behind on that one, though.

I also share a list of Post Rank’s analysis of each month’s top posts. Post Rank uses a variety of ways to measure level of “engagement” that readers have with specific blog posts. I have a constantly updated “widget” on my blog’s sidebar that lists these posts, but I thought a monthly post would be helpful/interesting to subscribers who don’t regularly visit the blog itself.

Here are their rankings for the month of July:

1. The Best Resources For Learning What Google+ Is All About

2. The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2011 — So Far

3. The Best Funny Videos Showing The Importance Of Being Bilingual — Part One

4. The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly In 2011 — So Far

5. Interview Of The Month — Bill Ferriter

6. Knovio Makes Creating An Audio/Visual Web Presentation As Easy As Pie

7. What A Great Video To Get Students To Think More Carefully About Their Writing…

8. The Best Posts, Articles & Videos About Learning From Mistakes & Failures

9. Who Are The Most Popular Education Twitterers & Bloggers?

10. “Not everything that matters can be measured”

11. The Best Videos Illustrating Qualities Of A Successful Language Learner

12. The People Who Want To Get Rid Of Tenure & Say Teacher Experience Isn’t That Important Should Read This Interview

I regularly share my picks for the most useful posts of each month. I also have tried publish a list of the month’s most popular posts, based on the number of times they are “clicked-on.” I’m very behind on that one, though.

I also share a list of Post Rank’s analysis of each month’s top posts. Post Rank uses a variety of ways to measure level of “engagement” that readers have with specific blog posts. I have a constantly updated “widget” on my blog’s sidebar that lists these posts, but I thought a monthly post would be helpful/interesting to subscribers who don’t regularly visit the blog itself.

Here are their rankings for the month of June:

1. Wow, This Is Really Useful: A Bloom’s Taxonomy For Student Reflection

2. Have Some Time This Summer? Here Are 7,000 TEDx Videos You Can Watch

3. Help Me Understand The Significance Of This New Study That “Finds Sudden Insights Key to Learning Words”

4. A Couple Of Useful Bloom’s Taxonomy Videos

5. The Best Language Learning Games (That Are Not Online)

6. The Best YouTube Channels For Learning English

7. I Don’t Like “Accountability”

8. Making Book Trailers With Fotobabble

9. Here’s A Video On Self-Control I’m Showing My Students First Thing Next Week

10. Shortcuts, School Reform & Private Foundations

11. Interview Of The Month On The Save Our Schools March

Many blogs, including mine, have a PostRank widget on our sidebars which track the level of “engagement” readers have with individual blog posts. It’s an excellent analytic tool, and I review those engagement levels each month to develop a public ranking of my most popular posts.

Before PostRank was purchased by Google earlier this month, you could find the engagement levels for posts from an individual blog by just typing the blog’s name into the PostRank search box. Unfortunately, though, many things on their site disappeared the day they announced the Google purchase.

I contacted PostRank earlier today, and Melanie Baker, their Community Manager, responded immediately to my question about how to access blog analytics. For now, all you have to do is enter:

http://www.postrank.com/feed followed by your blog’s url address

For example, for my blog, I’d enter

http://www.postrank.com/feed/http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/

That leads me to the ranking of all my blog posts.

Unfortunately, since the the Google purchase, PostRank is not accepting any new registrations, but I thought this information might be helpful to the many bloggers who already use the service.

I regularly share my picks for the most useful posts of each month. I also have tried publish a list of the month’s most popular posts, based on the number of times they are “clicked-on.” I’m very behind on that one, though.

I also share a list of Post Rank’s analysis of each month’s top posts. Post Rank uses a variety of ways to measure level of “engagement” that readers have with specific blog posts. I have a constantly updated “widget” on my blog’s sidebar that lists these posts, but I thought a monthly post would be helpful/interesting to subscribers who don’t regularly visit the blog itself.

Here are their rankings for the month of May:

1. “What Can You Do To Stay Positive During The Last Seven Weeks Of School?”

2. Yale Makes 260,000 Images Available Online — With No Limitations On Their Usage

3. Wow, This Is A “Must-Read” Article On The Brain & Learning!

4. New Study Says Homework Has No Impact…Except In Math

5. The Best Resources For Learning About Osama bin Laden

6. What Does Learning From Mistakes Do To Your Brain?

7. Why Is It Important For Students To Learn About Bloom’s Taxonomy?

8. The Best Resources For Adapting Your Textbook So It Doesn’t Bore Students To Death

9. Surprise, Surprise! Study Says Cooperative Learning Is More Effective Than Lectures

10. Oh, New Yorker Magazine, How Could You?

I regularly share my picks for the most useful posts of each month. I also have tried publish a list of the month’s most popular posts, based on the number of times they are “clicked-on.” I’m very behind on that one, though.

I also share a list of Post Rank’s analysis of each month’s top posts. Post Rank uses a variety of ways to measure level of “engagement” that readers have with specific blog posts. I have a constantly updated “widget” on my blog’s sidebar that lists these posts, but I thought a monthly post would be helpful/interesting to subscribers who don’t regularly visit the blog itself.

Here are their rankings for the month of April:

1. The Best Resources For Google Earth Beginners Like Me
2. Interview Of The Month: Sean Banville, One Of The Hardest Working People In The ESL/EFL World
3. Tutorials On Making Interactive Infographics
4. First Chapter of My Book, Hand-Outs & Links Are Now Online For Free
5. “Why Use Games in the Language Classroom?”
6. “The Beauty Of Maps”
7. Ben Franklin’s Daily Schedule
8. Why Do So Many Ordinarily Thoughtful Columnists “Lose It” When They Write About Schools?
9. L.A. Times Doesn’t Model Learning From Mistakes — Set To Publicly Rank Thousands Of More Teachers
10. Study: Reading Books Is Only Out-Of-School Activity That Helps Students Get Better Job Later
11. Wordlings Is A New Word Cloud Generator
12. Excellent Info On “Value-Added” Approach To Teacher Evaluation
13. How We Can Help Our Students Deal With Stress
14. Why The Start Of The School Day Might Be So Important…
15. A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Infographics
16. Multiple People Can Upload Images to PhotoCollect
17. New Marzano Study On “Effort & Recognition”
18. New Bloom’s Taxonomy Resource
19. “As The Stakes Go Up, The Validity Goes Down”
20. Asking “Why Not?” & “What If?” As Well As “Why?”
21. Another Great Daily Show Video Clip
22. What Is The “Zeigarnik Effect” & How Did I Apply It In The Classroom Today?

Many readers know I have written a book about parent engagement in schools and have a separate blog on the topic. I thought readers of this blog might be interested in seeing the most popular posts from that other blog.

Post Rank uses a variety of ways to measure level of “engagement” that readers have with specific blog posts. I have a constantly updated “widget” on my blog’s sidebar that lists these posts, but I thought a quarterly post would be helpful/interesting to subscribers who don’t regularly visit the blog itself.

Here’s a listing of the “most engaged” posts from the previous quarter.

Here are their rankings for this past quarter:

1. My Best Posts On Parent Engagement Over The Past Six Months — April, 2010
2. If It Quacks Like A Duck — Thoughts On The “Parent Trigger”
3. Rahm Emanuel’s “Transactional” Perspective On Parent Involvement/Engagement
4. Why It’s So Important To Speak Positively To Parents About Their Kids
5. Good Middle School Journal Article On Parent Involvement
6. Again, Let’s Not Blame Parents
7. Annenberg Starts “Center For Education Organizing”
8. Update On Ridiculous Florida Bill To Give Parents Grades
9. Memo To Tennessee: I Don’t Think Requiring Students To Document Their Immigration Status Is Going To Enhance Parent Engagement
10. Newark’s Outreach Effort Appears To Have Been A Sham
11. More On Star Wars & Parent Engagement
12. Q & A With Florida Legislator Who Wants To Grade Parents
13. “What ‘Star Wars’ Can Teach Educators About Parent Engagement”
14. Now It’s New York City’s Turn To Show Us How NOT To Do Parent Engagement
15. L.A. District Receives Parent Engagement Recommendations
16. Mayor Bloomberg Appears Tone Deaf…
17. “John Muir Elementary SF gets parents more involved”
18. More On Florida Legislator’s Plan To Grade Parents
19. “Title I and Parent Involvement: Lessons from the Past, Recommendations for the Future”
20. “Schools can learn from program that puts parents in classrooms”
21. PTA Calls For Changes In “Parent Trigger”
22. Parents Upset In North Carolina

I regularly share my picks for the most useful posts of each month. I also have tried publish a list of the month’s most popular posts, based on the number of times they are “clicked-on.” I’m very behind on that one, though.

I also share a list of Post Rank’s analysis of each month’s top posts. Post Rank uses a variety of ways to measure level of “engagement” that readers have with specific blog posts. I have a constantly updated “widget” on my blog’s sidebar that lists these posts, but I thought a monthly post would be helpful/interesting to subscribers who don’t regularly visit the blog itself.

Here are their rankings for the month of March:

1. The Best Ways For English Language Learners To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly
2. Jon Stewart & Diane Ravitch Knock It Out Of The Park!
3. I Think This AASA Speech By Diane Ravitch Is The Best Commentary On Education I’ve Read Or Heard
4. The Best Sites For Learning About The Japan Earthquake & Tsunami
5. Useful Updates On Japan Earthquake — Part Two
6. Here’s Jon Stewart’s Great Piece On Teachers From Last Night
7. The Best Online Virtual “Corkboards” (or “Bulletin Boards”)
8. Transcript (& Selected Highlights) From President Obama’s Town Hall Meeting On Education Today
9. Broadcastr Will Be A Hit With English Language Learners (& Other Students)
10. The Arrogance Of Bill Gates — Part Three
11. Excellent Video Explaining Problem-Based Learning
12. Create A Message With Letters Bouncing To Your Music
13. The Best (& Easiest) Ways To Record Online Video Interviews
14. How Stress Affects Our Students (& Their Parents) — Plus, How We’re Trying To Help
15. “Hot Spot” Interview With An EFL Teacher — In The Middle Of The Japanese Disaster
16. The Best Posts & Articles About “Erase To The Top”
17. “Hot Spot” Interview With An EFL Teacher In The Tunisian Revolution
18. The Best Ways To Make A Map Showing Your Facebook Friends (& Twitter Followers)
19. “How to Raise the Status of Teachers”
20. You Can Now Use Posterous For Email Newsletters
21. Three Good Questions For Teachers To Ask Themselves (& Answer Them Here If You Feel Like It)
22. Teaching Academic Vocabulary
23. Good Blogging Advice
24. The Best Articles Providing An “Overall” Perspective On Education Policy
25. Story Corps Launches National Teachers Initiatve
26. “Why Teachers Like Me Support Unions”
27. The Difference Between “Curating,” “Aggregating” & “Creating”
28. The Best Resources For Learning About Schools Providing Home Computers & Internet Access To Students
29. The Best Learning Games For Advanced ELL’s & Non-ELL’s
30. Wisconsin Update — Republicans Issue Arrest Warrants

I regularly share my picks for the most useful posts of each month. I also have tried publish a list of the month’s most popular posts, based on the number of times they are “clicked-on.” I’m very behind on that one, though.

I also share a list of Post Rank’s analysis of each month’s top posts. Post Rank uses a variety of ways to measure level of “engagement” that readers have with specific blog posts. I have a constantly updated “widget” on my blog’s sidebar that lists these posts, but I thought a monthly post would be helpful/interesting to subscribers who don’t regularly visit the blog itself.

Here are their rankings for the month of February:

1. The Best Resources For Learning The Advantages To Being Bilingual
2. The Best Resources For Learning About Attacks On Teachers & Other Public Sector Workers In Wisconsin
3. The Best Resources To See Who Might Fall Next After Mubarak…
4. Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Problems
5. The Best Tools For Creating Fake “Stuff” For Learning
6. The Best Sites For Learning About Protests In History
7. The Best Places To Find Research On Technology & Language Teaching/Learning
8. The Best Sites To Learn About The Christchurch Earthquake
9. You Can Now “Pre-Order” My New Book On Helping Students Motivate Themselves
10. Very Important Post On The Effect Of Teachers Unions On Student Achievement
11. The Best Places To Get Reliable, Valid, Accessible & Useful Education Data
12. The Best Posts About Michelle Rhee’s Exaggerated Test Scores
13. The Best Posts & Articles Raising Concerns About Teach For America
14. “Two Steps Back” Is A This American Life Episode Everybody Should Listen to — Especially Superintendents & Principals
15. “Edge” Is Somewhat Like TED Talks
16. Nice Collection of Web 2.0 Tools
17. Why Teachers Shouldn’t Blog….And Why I Do
18. Google Makes It Easier To Import Delicious Bookmarks
19. Contribute To The Next ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival!
20. Today, A Reporter Asked Me What I Thought Of Michelle Rhee. This Is What I Told Him…
21. Dilbert’s Commentary Might Relate To Teachers & Schools, Too
22. The Best Sites For Learning About China
23. Today’s Wisconsin Update — It’s Not About Money, It’s About Power
24. Talking To Students About Their Reading (& Their Data)
25. Exchange That Highlights What’s Going On In Wisconsin
26. On Storytelling…
27. “Little Bird Tales”
28. “TED Conversations” Looks Like It Has Potential
29. The Best “World Press Photo” Winners
30. The Best Resources For Learning Why The Parent Trigger Isn’t Good For Parents, Kids Or Schools

I regularly share my picks for the most useful posts of each month. I also have tried publish a list of the month’s most popular posts, based on the number of times they are “clicked-on.” I’m very behind on that one, though.

I also share a list of Post Rank’s analysis of each month’s top posts. Post Rank uses a variety of ways to measure level of “engagement” that readers have with specific blog posts. I have a constantly updated “widget” on my blog’s sidebar that lists these posts, but I thought a monthly post would be helpful/interesting to subscribers who don’t regularly visit the blog itself.

Here are their rankings for the month of January:

1. “Voki For Education” Launches Today
2. The Best Resources For Maximizing The Use Of Dropbox
3. Spelling City Becomes Even Better
4. The Best Resources For Learning Why Teacher Merit Pay Is A Bad Idea
5. “Calvin and Hobbes” Treasure Chest!
6. How I Milked A Lesson For Every Last Ounce Of Learning And Why I’m An Idiot For Not Thinking Of It Earlier
7. The Best Sites For Learning About The Protests In Egypt
8. The Best Education-Related Books Visitors To This Blog Read In 2010
9. “Mom, This Is How Twitter Works”
10. The Best Sites For Learning About Earthquakes
11. The Best Sites For Learning About The One-Year Anniversary Of The Haiti Earthquake
12. Individualized Computer Support For Students Facing Challenges
13. Thirty-Seven “Best Of 2010″ Lists
14. Twitter “Chats” For ESL/EFL Teachers (& How To Participate In Them)
15. The Best Resources For Learning About Handwriting & Learning
16. The Best Places For Students To Learn About…Their Names
17. Special Extra “Interview Of The Month” With Diane Ravitch
18. Great CNN Interview On Class Size Reduction
19. Two More Video Sites Like TED Talks
20. Has Sandra Day O’Connor’s Site Just Added A Weird & Insulting Game On Immigration? Or Am I Being Too Sensitive?
21. The Best Posts & Articles Explaining Why Schools Should Not Be Run Like Businesses
22. The Best Resources For Learning About The Role Of Private Foundations In Education Policy
23. Amazing Collection Of Interactives Showing World Data
24. Alternatives To Collective Punishment
25. The Best Resources For Teaching About The Arizona Shooting
26. Popplet Looks Like A Winner — It’s Wallwisher On Steroids
27. “Projeqt” Looks Like It Could Good For Creating Interactive Slideshows
28. The Best Sites For Learning About The Vote In Southern Sudan