Teacher's Challenge's 30 Days to Kick Starting Your Blogging

lately i've been feeling a bit dissatisfied with my blogging (and lack of such).  been lazily thinking about how to kick it up a notch/challenge myself to better blogging/make the experience more meaningful and useful for myself and/or others.  this lackadaisical mental meandering hasn't yielded much in the way of solid plan of attack. .  .   .   . my mom always told me to be careful what you wish for . . . . this morning ~vicki davis put up a tweet  (she is also found at coolcatteacher) about this 30 day challenge to teachers, a free on line pd opportunity for educators who either blog or want to begin blogging.   so here i go.


one of the "assignments" in the first activity asks these questions:

• Why did you join the Teacher Challenge’s 30 Days to Kick Starting your Blogging?
• Why do you want to learn more about blogging?
• What aspects of blogging have you struggled with?

i've joined this challenge as a result of self-evaluation of my recent blogging (as noted above).  i am hoping to discover a new way to use blogging in my professional growth and work.  

one of the reasons that i would like to expand/improve my blogging is the incredible growth in the www.  i don't foresee it shrinking.  the use of computers and the internet continues to expand.  presently, the school system that i work in is not using the available web resources to their potential, it will happen.  i want to be ready when we grow in that direction.  it seems that the best way to grow skills and experience is to get out there and try them!

i am looking especially for ways to use blogging as a tool for communicating with students and their families and for professional growth and sharing.  

enough vacation!! . . .?????

school is about to recommence here in lil rhody and i have certainly taken enough time off from blogging to have created a new habit of not writing regularly.

or did i uncreate a fairly new habit?

no matter, it is time to dust off the skills that can be remembered and to get it done

very excited to be returning to the middle school where i finished up last year! was only there for about 2 months and was just starting to feel like i was getting the hang of the middle school environment and habitat - - - very different than both elementary and high school. there are big changes happening in our district and special ed is included in this morphing and forming. of course many of us are not entirely sure what that really means. surely it will all be spelled out next monday at orientation!

stumbled across a link @ npr.org that made me think of my neighbor blogger (also a recent grad of j&w's mat program!!). hoping he can help me clarify how graphic novels, manga, superhero comics, etc. are all related. do they all huddle under the umbrella of COMICS?? are they considered separate entities? it occurs to me that there is a huge gap in my literary background! (and i claim to be an educator!)

got to go now. need to start making my plans for SATURDAY!!