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My blog Teachers At Risk is two years old- how many people years is that?
Filed Under Blogging in and out of the Classroom, The Way I See It
Imagine, my blog “Teachers At Risk” is 2 years old already. Time really does fly. I’m just sitting here at the computer reflecting back on those two years and find myself wondering, don’t ask me why, how many people years would two blog years be? When we talk about the ages of cats and dogs we’ll often translate cat years and dog years into people years. We’ll say that when a dog is one year old, it’s the equivalent of being seven people years old. How would that work for blogs? What does one blog year equal in people years? How old is “Teachers At Risk” in people years? The terrible two’s seemed to last for about two months. Does that mean Teachers At Risk is 24 years people years old . I don’t really know, but I do know that I’ve enjoyed writing the blog.
I certainly didn’t have any idea when I started Teachers At Risk back at the beginning of August 2006 where it would take me. I’ve met wonderful people and learned so many things. It’s been one of the most rewarding things that I’ve done.
I’m trying to remember what it felt like when I first started blogging. I do remember that I kept wondering who was going to want to read Teachers At Risk, a blog about teaching “at rIsk” kids and how were people were going to find it even if they wanted to read it when there were millions and millions of blogs out there. I didn’t really appreciate the power of search engines and referring sites to lead educators, parents and even students to Teachers At Risk. Thirty percent of my traffic now comes from referring sites. Thank you.
There were lots of exciting moments in the last two years. Here are some
- The very first comment I got for my very first post was exciting. - thanks Jason.
- When Google Analytics told me that I had 5500 visits a month from readers in 85 countries. My husband Kurt and I had lots of fun looking at the map of the world to see where everyone came from.
- When David Synder at The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development gave Teachers At Risk a favourable review. That was exciting, too. I’ve gone to their conferences many times and bought many of their publications. I really respect ASCD. It’s one thing for family and friends to say that your doing a good job, but when ASCD says that well… ASCD also published a short piece I wrote about differentiating homework.
- Getting emails from readers during the last two years was pretty exciting too, especially the one from Sage Publishing saying that they wanted to purchase two of my articles from my blog to put into a textbook for preservice teachers. What a wonderful way to mentor teachers.
- It was great to be able to share all the cool stuff I’ve learned about the technical aspects of blogging and other digital technology with some of my colleagues at school. I don’t expect everyone to be as excited about the whole thing as I am. But, it’s nice to see the interest growing.
- Another exciting offshoot of Teachers At risk was my class blog. I thought that since my students practically live in the digital world with text messaging, face book, MSN and what not that I could bring the classroom to them through digital technology so I stated a class blog and the kids loved it. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done to engage and motivate my students. I’m really looking forward to the new school year.
- Becoming part of an on-line community that shares with and supports one another is also exciting.
After rereading the part above about the exciting moments, I was thinking maybe I’ve over used the word exciting. But, then I decided I hadn’t . It was exciting. What can I say.
One of the most important lessons I learned about blogging was that my blog didn’t have to be perfect. It just had to be me. When I went to push the publish button after finishing my first few posts, I died a thousand deaths thinking about all the mistakes I might have made and didn’t see. It was paralyzing, to say the least. But then, I realized my blog didn’t have to be perfect. Why? Well it’s only a blog after all. Let’s keep things in perspective. No professional editors are pouring over it to fix things the way they do in newspapers or magazines. It’s only me. So, I don’t sweat it anymore. When I find errors, I fix them. Otherwise, ignorance is bliss.
At this point, I want to thank my husband Kurt, daughter Lisa, son Chris and my friend Jason Jarrett for all the support they’ve given me right from the beginning helping me learn the technical ropes and rescuing me when I’ve had technical difficulties. They’ve had lots of opportunities to practice being patient, let me tell you. At one point, Jason even held up a page from a manual to the webcam on his Mac during a Skype conversation so that I could see what I needed to do. I’m a visual learner and wasn’t getting it when he was telling me over the phone so he showed me using the camera. He’s in England and I’m in Canada.That was amazing. thank you all.
What will the next two years bring? Who knows. I can hardly wait.
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12 Responses to “My blog Teachers At Risk is two years old- how many people years is that?”
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What a wonderful birthday speech! It truly underlines the power of blogging.
Happy Birthday Teachers at Risk!
Tracy
More than two years ago I had told my mom (Elona) that she should look into blogging. I had been doing it for about a year and I just knew in the way only sons can know about their mothers’ thoughts that she would love it.
I was right, wasn’t I?
Happy Blogging Birthday, Mom!
Tracy,
thank you.
Chris,
Yes you were right. I do love blogging and you knew that I would before I did.
Congratulations!
Thanks Jason
Hi Elona,
Congratulations on your 2 year anniversary. I’ve never really thought about the lifespan of a blog like we do about cats and dogs, but you’re right. Even though there are millions of blogs and splogs out there, not everyone makes it past their first year.
I think it’s fascinating to see what other teachers are doing out there in terms of bringing technology into the classroom, so I’m going to enjoy peeking around your blog. (Love the Feedjit widget.) Happy birthday.
Cheers, Kisu
Hi Elona,
Congratulations on 2 years of a blog that just keeps getting better. Yours and Jason’s are my favourites.
Great (re-)reading your points on how not to stress out at the thought of the new school year - I clicked on it just in time. Now I can be serene!
Take care,
Carol
Carol,
Thanks for those kind words. I appreciate the support. I need to reread what I wrote too. Last night I had this most vivid dream that all the most challenging kids I’ve ever had were in one class. Go figure. When I woke up I had to laugh at myself to think that even after all this time and even after knowing what to do, at some level I’m worried that my classroom will be hell.
Congratulations. You’ve contributed positively to the blogosphere and my own teaching. Blog years are probably like dog years…it’s certainly hard to keep going. Thanks for keeping it up.
Mathew,
Your welcome. I’m so pleased that what I’ve shared has been helpful. Of course I’ve learned a lot too over these two years. There’s a wonderful community of sharing on the blogosphere.
Hi! I’m an Uruguayan EFL teacher finding new ways to encourage students to write. To do so, we have created two blogs where they are starting to post; however,I think they would feel more motivated if they knew people from around the world visit them and read what they have to say.
Could you help me? Please, visit their blogs and leave a comment. I’ll appreciate it.
Thanks!
Analía
http://donotreadmythiblog.blogspot.com/
http://preprofwritingproject.blogspot.com/
Congrats on your 2 years!
You have a lot of interesting reading material.