Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Uncharted Waters

I have been on twitter for about 6 months. I would venture to say that it has been a wild, fast and adventurous ride that has blown me away. It seems that almost all of my followers and the people that I follow have their own blogs. I read their blogs all the time and learn so much. I started feeling a little guilty that I was not returning the favor of sharing blogs myself. I also realized that I was not reflecting at the level that would grow my super powers. I always reflect to my husband.  This is okay, but he also suffers from selective hearing and when I try to retrieve some of my reflections, they seem to be lost (as in he never "heard" them). Last week I participated in a #txed twitter chat. Our Hooker Homework was to write a blog. This was the fuel I needed to start this fire. I started looking at all the platforms and hit another road block. Which one do I choose? Is one better than the other? Where do I find this information? This was uncharted waters for me and I didn't even know where to start. I looked at a few of the blogs that I read and to my surprise, they were all on different platforms so that was not help. Then I turned to twitter. I asked a few of my tweeps and got some sound advice, but I was still struggling with how to start on my blog journey. This past Saturday, I attended EdcampFWTX. I had heard about edcamps, but I had never actually been to one. I have been looking forward to this for a couple of months. I went in with the intention to attend a few sessions and walk out with "free" knowledge. I wanted to dip my toes in the pool of greatness. Much to my surprise, I went in to the first session and ended up as the moderator. Now that is what I call "jumping in the water"! I got to meet several of my tweeps face to face. One of my tweeps, Rafranz, was moderating a session on blogging. I knew that I had to go to this session. As I sat through the session with my mind reeling on how to get started, I was able to see that the important part of blogging is actually very personal. It is a way for YOU to reflect on whatever crosses your mind. Some people may find it fascinating and others may find no value in it at all, but YOU will always learn from your blog. Not only am I starting my blog with this entry, I am also hoping to have my students blogging this year. I recall one conversation from the edcamp session where someone was questioning what to do about negative comments left on a student's blog. Do approve the comment and help direct them through reflecting on the comment or do you just delete it? This became a very involved discussion with great points from both sides. I tended to agree more with the "let them see it" side and guide them through it. The pirate in me said "Give the kid a high five and tell him 'Yeah, you got your first heckler!'"

2 comments:

  1. True to the PIRATE spirit! Looking forward to more! Way to jump in. :)

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  2. I like the fact that you just jumped right in. Blogging is fun. Who knows, you just might be the spark for someone else to start a blog! Keep up the good work.

    By the way, I like the profile pic.

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