Online Survey about Edublogging

If you are an edublogger you might want to participate in this survey. It asked things that I have no idea about (my technorati rank.... I don't really care or have time to figure it out). But I think it is interesting.


Sometimes I have a feeling that there is an in-group that is blogging and bouncing with excitement about what they are all learning from each other and I don't know how to keep up.

I have given up trying, but I still learn a lot from reading what they are thinking. I just listened to the WOW podcast where Cheryl Oakes and others talk about a new year's plan to read and encourage other bloggers. Cheryl had someone on the show that she recommended. I think this is fantastic.

I think that there may be a limit to the size of effective networks or maybe it is like concentric circles going out... There are people like me who enjoy reading some of the well known edublogs, but I don't keep up regularly and I don't assume that they read my blog. Maybe my PLN is a different one that just interfaces with that other one sometimes. Maybe we need to encourage lots of PLNs that connect to each other occasionally... maybe that is already happening....

Systemic Change in Education

I just wanted to point out a discussion I have been following about the state of Public Education and what our response as educators should be to it. I think it is an incredibly important discussion. Do we opt out, start our own schools, home school, or work from within to improve things? Is it even possible to improve things? Read it and comment!

http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/out-of-the-box-thinking-about-education-and-teaching/

Google Notebook

I am using Google Notebook as I prepare for presentations I will be giving soon. I am liking it. It is always there at the bottom right side of my browser waiting to be used. It automatically saves and I can access it on any computer anywhere. There is a lot more to try and learn, but I wanted to mention that it is worth trying.

Organizing for the New Year

On New Year's Eve my husband asked me if I had any resolutions. Usually at this time of year I do think about the year past and the future and what I want to try to change, but for some reason this year it isn't coming to me at all.

Then this morning I was catching up a little on blog reading and I had an idea. I think I will start fresh with reading and responding to blogs. Here is what I am thinking:

• I will take 15 minutes every day to read blogs. (Influence of Not So Distant Future Blog (Carolyn Foote-What can you do with 15 minutes)
  
• I will not write without listening first and referring to the community. (Good advice from Vicki Davis on How to Write a Blog Post)
  
• I will take this time to clean out my bloglines list and this year I want to focus on reading classroom teachers who are using the larger community to be better teachers. (Mark Ahlness is one of my favorites.)

I still don't know how others do it... They somehow keep up with reading blogs, they twitter, they write daily or more often and they actually have something to say that often! So much to learn...