why blog?

There has been quite a lot of discussion in my neck of the woods about blogging in general, but more specifically teachers blogging and students blogging. Is blogging self indulgent? Do the people who blog just simply have too much time on their hands? Who would want to listed to what I have to write? What's the point of blogging?

I think that one of the best things a beginning blogger can do is to find others who are doing what they want to do, or writing about issues or subjects that are interesting. By read other people's blogs and by engaging in the conversations that evolve from them, you can start to form some of your own ideas about what you may like to blog about - so called "finding your voice".

To me, blogging is a way to organise my thoughts, and helps me form an opinion about something.  It is also how I can share what I am doing and the new things I am learning about. If people listen to what I say that's great, but if they don't I am not too perturbed. For me keeping a blog is a way to explore, define and then redefine my thoughts. You may find it means something different for you.

A few great examples of educator blogs to follow, read, listen to and if nothing else provide a shining example of "how to" for other educators:
Chris Betcher - education and technology
Sue Waters - podcasts
Kathryn Greenhill - librarian
Wormbins - class blog
Larry Ferlazzo - teacher + an excellent blog roll

There is also some interesting discussion going on in the edna Group blogging corner about the merits of students and teachers blogging.

Tags: discussion educators use of new technologies blog blogging
Posted at 11:44AM Jul 25, 2008 by Alison Hall  |  Comments[0]

Blogging, blogging, blogging

This slideshare on the subject of blogging speaks for itself!

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Tags: blogging publishing slide share blog
Posted at 06:01PM Jul 17, 2008 by Alison Hall  |  Comments[0]

A day in a sentence...

Sheryl McCoy has created a list of resources on diigo for those who wish to take part in the Sentence a Day, or the One Sentence Journal blogging challenge. As a Twitter user I find this challenge somewhat alluring. Then again, I'm not sure if I could sum up my day in a sentence, without mentioning the word "stuff" or "dunno..." In Twitter as well I tend to respond to what others have been tweeting, so it's not always about me.

Maybe Kevin's Your Day in a Comic challenge would be more to my taste. But then there's the question of creativity. I ain't got it!

So lets turn the floor to you. What challenges (blog or otherwise) have you undertaken to get your blog posts flying out and your creative juices flowing? PLUS did it work?

Tags: blog project writing learning2.0 thinkin students collaborativ
Posted at 02:03PM Jun 20, 2008 by Alison Hall  |