Posted by Michelle Vidotto | Posted in Welcome | Posted on August 14, 2013
No it’s not what you think! It’s not about getting married! It’s about taking the plunge and entering the world of blogging. I have wanted to start a blog for sometime now, particularly after attending the iSpark conference, jumping into the world of Twitter and reading posts by other blogging educators. I could offer many reasons why I didn’t start sooner – time, planning, spending time with family and friends but if I am honest with myself, I thought what would I blog about? What if I was not good at it? What if people think I have nothing to say? As I spent more time thinking about my reasons, I thought about the times I told my students to try something new and not give up when things got difficult. In fact, I remember last year a group of students were not able to agree on certain aspects for a project they were working on. The group managed to work through their differences (with a little guidance from their teacher) and the project turned out to be fantastic! So, after thinking about what I expect from my students, I had to let go of my fears and take the plunge!
After reading a post by Richard Byrne @rmbyrne called, “I Don’t Have Time to Blog,” made me feel better about taking the plunge into the blogging world. He offered three practical views on blogging.
The first one was to use blogging as a tool for reflection, but that when first starting out (like me), try posting once a week to start with. That helped take the pressure off that I had to be profound each time I blogged and try to post a blog everyday! I feel it is important to reflect as an educator, so blogging will definitely help me reflect on activities that I have planned for the students in a quicker and easier format. Plus, if I want my students to start blogging this year, I have to model this practice as well.
The second was that I can take time to work on my post, which will give me more time to reflect. That is the beauty of blogging, you can always edit and repost the page again! How great is that? Certainly, something my students would enjoy about blogging!
Lastly, I admit it, I do enjoy some mindless television! I have watched many seasons of the Bachelor and Bachelorette and I could use that time blogging or reading some blog posts! But . . . I can’t help it . . . I really want to know who will get the rose!
I have learned a great deal from others on Twitter and reading educational blog posts. I have soaked up many ideas, links, resources, and activities and I am looking forward to trying some of these new things this coming school year. Thank you so much for your inspiration and insight! Hopefully, as the year progresses I can share some things with others as well.
