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Jan
17
Everyday Is Professional Development Day In The Educational Blogosphere
Filed Under Blogging in and out of the Classroom, The Way I See It
Not too long ago I participated in The Dangerously Irrelevant 2007 Educational Blogosphere Survey, and today I noticed that the results of the survey were posted. I could hardly wait to see the results. If you have time, take a look. The results are really very interesting. Scott has done an excellent job of making sense of all the data and presenting it in a way that you can get the overall picture quickly and painlessly.
After reading the results of the survey and thinking more about why I started to write my blog and what I get out of it, I realized that things have changed over time. I love teaching and have been very fortunate to have had really wonderful mentors over the years, and I thought that I could share what I’ve learned from them with others. At our school we have a mentoring program , and I thought my blog could be an extension of that. It still is a place I like to share things, but I’ve discovered that it’s also a place that I get to learn cool things from other bloggers. I really like that.
Part of the whole blogging experience is, of course, reading other people’s blogs. It’s really exciting to read what other educators are thinking and doing. I’ve learned so much. It’s interesting to read blogs from all over and learn how different people deal with the common challenges we face as educators. It’s even more exciting to be able to discuss things with other bloggers. People are so helpful sharing the “gems” they have found. I’ve learned that everyday is professional development day in the educational blogosphere.
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3 Responses to “Everyday Is Professional Development Day In The Educational Blogosphere”
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Thanks, Elona, for the kind words about the survey and my analysis. I really like your phrase, “everyday is professional development day in the educational blogosphere.” So true, so true!
Of course the question is “What strategies can we employ to help others recognize both the communicative and learning power of blogs?” I’m not sure there’s any way of doing so without actually being immersed in the blogosphere, maybe as a blogger and definitely as a reader. What’s the hook to persuade folks to at least start reading? I think this is a key question that we’re all struggling with…
Scott, when I read your question about “what’s the hook to persuade folks to at least start reading?”. I think one way is word of mouth. While thinking about your question an old TV commercial came to mind- the one where one women tells another one about a shampoo and then the both of them tell another two women making four than the four women tell another four making eight them the eight tell etc. Another way to spread the word could be presentations about educational blogs at department meetings, staff meetings or seminar presentations at conferences. Face it, not everyone is going to like reading or writing blogs despite their value.
Maybe my statement about everyday is professional development day in the educational blogosphere could hook some people who are looking for pd but don’t realize that blogs provide that. Maybe we could convince someone or some organization to sponsor a day that could be called The International Professional Development In The Educational Blogosphere Day. It definately has a nice long ring to it. We could get the different professional associations involved. We could, we could…. I’m not kidding. What do ya think?
Sounds good. Building off the word-of-mouth idea, I think we need to help folks connect with blogs in areas that interest them. For example, if a teacher likes folk music, connect her with 3 to 5 folk music blogs. If a teacher is interested in differentiation resources, connect him with some blogs that are talking about that stuff. Personal or professional interests - it doesn’t matter - and once they find some blogs that interest them, then show ‘em how to use a RSS aggregator and build from there.