High Voltage Sparks, SCholewiak, cropped
OK. Dean Shareski – this one’s on you! Just crossed your blog post If you ain’t a feed, I don’t read – about blogging. Your ‘call to action’ is prompting my words to flow onto this blank blog page. I’ve been working on the course design for digital teaching and learning and blogging is part of the requirement for course success. How can I teach what I am not learning myself?
So my confession is simple – I may have something important to say but who am I to know? The confidence to just ‘throw it out there’ has been somewhat lacking. Maybe it’s the introvert in me – do introverts blog? Well Dean – I’ll take up your request to ‘please blog’! Maybe my knowledge and understanding can be shared around this digital fireplace!
The blog post 21+ Things Every 21st Century Blogger Should Do in 2015 also challenged me to re-think my blogging presence. Lisa Johnson lists several tasks for bloggers to consider – top on my list for this year are
- plug in your feeds – this one’s a nod to Dean – your feed to mine! I’ll certainly look forward to engaging with others more regularly this coming year.
- tag all posts with your name – interesting way to spread your name as the word and the work
- infuse pictures of yourself – not sure about this, but the selfie phenomenon has tainted my inner introvert. How do introverts handle the ‘focus on me’ social push? Maybe my selfies will be images of parts of me with parts of what I’m doing in learning spaces.
- connect content you create and curate – this one should be easy – there’s lots that I have created and much more I hope to curate as this year progresses.
- creative commons your work and/or your site – this one’s been done a few times, but not consistently. I’ve bookmarked the Choose Your Creative Commons License site and enjoy the simplicity of acquiring a license image to match my site.
- proudly display badges – ok, this one really speaks to me since I’ve just created a badge for one of my courses and encouraged my students to post the course badge on their own blogs. I’ll have to explore this one some more this year.
- provide consistency with content – this one’s the tough one! Resolutions in the beginning of a new year often fail once the going gets tough. Perhaps a blogging challenge or a ‘quad-blog‘ may bring hope of sustainability.
So, all it takes is the right prompt at the right time to spark thinking and learning. Thanks Dean, you sparked this blogger to ignite. Something worth remembering as I move into this new year. How can I spark others to ignite their passions for digital teaching and learning?
Five Flames 4 Learning 
So glad that my post resonated with you. I have found the plugging in with a feed, tagging posts with your name, connecting what you curate and create to be pretty easy as well.
I totally think the infusing with pictures should take a personal spin and really evoke your own personality – whether you take a pic of one item that inspires you or even images of your room or the backs of heads of students or your chalkboard or your notes – I think anything that provides a window in to your world where people can make a deeper connection with what you value or your personality is highly effective in building deeper connections with your audience (just my two cents, though). 😉
Glad to hear about your course badges – this has been a struggle with the design of my blog but working on a solution because I think the display of edu flare holds merit. Best of luck to you and please keep in touch!
Thanks Lisa. There were many more items on your list that will stay on the ‘back burner’ for a while. I encourage my students to ‘build their brand’ by telling their story. Your list will go a long way in helping focus them, and me, on sticking to new resolutions. The images and ideas for badges have been on a slow burn for a while now. I’m playing with Canva to create some interesting icons and will build a collection before I launch to my students. Love to keep in touch!
Way to go Helen. For more inspiration, read this http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/01/you-are-what-you-share.html
Thanks Dean for the link to Seth Godin. His post had already inspired and connected to my ‘awaken the dragon’ image (https://fiveflames4learning.wordpress.com/2015/01/16/awaken-the-dragon/). I’m certainly going to try to ‘generously change the world’ by actively sharing my voice. Thanks for taking the time to connect and inspire!
Great post Helen! Over the past couple weeks of being in your class, I always told myself I was going to check out your blog. Now, not only do I get to feed my curiosity but I also get a mark for it.
As a newbie to the blogging world I can resonate about having something to say or share, yet not have the confidence to put it out there. In my own personal life I would consider myself to be more on the shy end of the spectrum and often staying silent even why I have something to say.
However, I accept the challenge to blog more, share the knowledge that I have to offer, and hopefully become more confident with my posts.
In your post, one of your tips is provide consistency with content. You suggest a blogging challenge. What blog challenges do you suggest for a newcomer to the blogging world?
Hi Helen! These are some excellent ideas for your to re-think your blogging presence. I never thought about doing some of these things – I’m glad you opened my eyes to this! Including Dean’s blog about making sure you blog and Lisa’s list of things that every blogger should do, created an excellent blog post. I liked that you ask “How do introverts handle the ‘focus on me’ social push?”. I consider myself to also be quite introverted, but have never seemed to have a huge problem with being extroverted on social media. I have always loved being present on the internet and sharing my thoughts and ideas. Being more introverted while having a blog must show to be difficult in those type of situations. Stepping out of your comfort zone seems to be extremely important!
Expanding from what was said on Dean’s blog about “if you ain’t a feed, I don’t read” – many things I’ve read over the past few years have been from blogs. Reading blogs, especially teacher blogs have many interesting new concepts and frankly, I love reading the personal thoughts of others and their experiences.
As you mentioned in your post, there were several tasks that you wanted to incorporate into your blogging. Have you incorporated these into your blogging since creating this post? I’d love to hear more about how you’ve done these! I loved reading this post and would like to thank you for sharing your thoughts, along with Dean and Lisa’s blog posts!
Cheers, Patricia W.