cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cambodia4kidsorg
There are a ton of “challenges” out there about blogging daily or 30 blog posts in a month and I think they are absolutely great for many. That being said, with summer here for many of us on this side of the world, I am not an advocate of staying connected the entire break. It is great to start some habits over the summer that will continue on into the school year, but it is important that people have an opportunity to recharge their batteries, spend time with family and friends, and just enjoy themselves.
So as a “happy medium”, I would like to just offer an idea for people that are either trying to start or a blog, or give themselves a jumpstart. Sitting with David Wees last night, he reiterated the importance of a blog as being his space for learning, which is something that I think is extremely important. This modelling of learning is something that I really believe we need to do as educators/leaders. Often though, many people are trying to have the next great original idea, when blogging is a great space to just share thoughts on what they are learning.
Here is my suggestion/challenge…
Similar to the “You Should Read” posts that I try to do weekly, I would suggest blogging about one article that you have read that you find interesting or perhaps helpful to your personal goals, or organizational goals. Share some quotes, ideas, and then your own thoughts about the article. I think it would also be helpful to those encouraging others to use social media in their school to reference where they received it from.
Here is a quick example of how it could look:
I recently found this great blog post that Bo Adams tweeted out this morning referencing a “Letter to New Teachers“. Here is a powerful quote from the post:
“Congratulations—you’ve chosen an excellent career that will ensure that no two days are ever alike for you, that you won’t die from sitting on your your butt all day long in font of a screen, and that you’ll spend most of your day interacting with people who you can have a tremendous positive influence over. You will also be constantly stretching your brain to learn new things—how to teach a particular concept, how connect with a withdrawn student, how to learn some new technology to add to your repertoire, and sometimes how to just survive to the end of the day.”
This blog post reminds me of the Apple letter to new employees that helps to create a culture of innovation and excellence. Setting the tone for the year, or even a career, is so extremely important to the work that we do with people. We all know that what you do in the first day or week with your students to help build a classroom that is built upon trust, relationships, and a culture of learning is so important to your entire year; this is no different than the tone we set with the adults in our school.
So what do you do in your school to help set the tone at the beginning of the year?
That’s it…an entire blog post that shared some quick thoughts, someone else’s blog post, promoted the use of social media for learning, and asked a question of your readers to promote conversation and learning.
So for those who like lists, here it is:
- Find a great article and write a short blog about it. (Try 2-3 times a week)
- Reference how you found it.
- Share some thoughts on the post.
- Ask a question to promote learning.
- If you are on Twitter, use the hashtag #learn365 and any other ones that you find applicable to the work you are doing.
Hopefully this little challenge could help spark some writing in a way that shares learning but doesn’t have you spending your entire summer in front of a computer! Please feel free to share this challenge with others who may be struggling with some ideas for blogging 🙂