Inspired To Jump!

Well maybe that wasn't the "best" way to catch your attention! Don't worry, I'm not jumping off a bridge or a cliff! …..but I am jumping…. into blogging! Blogging (for professional growth) HAS been on my mind for a while now. It's not the logistics or "how-to's" of blogging that was stopping me from starting. I keep a class blog with my students and blog about twice a week. This wasn't the problem.

It came down to purpose. What was the purpose (who cares? whose actually going to read it?). It was also making the time - how much time do I dedicate spewing text onto something that I wasn't sure was purposeful! So time went on… and no blog.

Then I joined my first #mbedchat last Wednesday. I loved the experience of being able to connect with other educators that had the same passion of technology, social media, connectedness, and collaboration! Tonight I participated in my second #mbedchat (pecan praline coffee in hand) waiting to tweet, share and learn from many other like-minded educators! @ZBettess and @DanaAriss moderated a chat on collaboration. The topic of blogs came up for professional growth/use. The topic peaked my interested……. So, I started to explore blogs from other educators that were linked on the #mbedchat blog. I found myself getting sidetracked from #mbedchat and lost into all these educators' blogs. I was inspired. Simple! I read through them and realized on just how many paths you can go down once you connect, collaborate, read, share, tweet, retweet - whatever! The possibilities are endless.

So… in the middle of a 1 hour #mbedchat I began to ask myself… Do I start? Do I jump in and blog……Am I ready to take this on? Then @shareski jumped into the conversation! I read his blog on "How To Make Better Teachers" . Blogging allows us to connect, share and reflect on our practices. My first thought: "He's lucky that I don't like golf……"  Reading half way through his blog, I felt like my feet were right on the edge, I was almost ready to take the plunge….

As @shareski explained- blogging "allows us to be accountable." It made me started thinking of the possibilities. It's making me to start thinking about all the paths. Paths of doing things, not doing things, paths of perspectives, paths of "never again!" and the one I'm looking most forward to… "the path of self-reflection." … and I JUMPED!

As soon as I finished my #mbedchat I said to myself "Let's do this!"

What are my hopes for this blog?
-  I hope that once in a while I have something exciting to share and/or reflect on
- I hope that I can stay committed to 1 post per week (if there's more - great!)
- I hope that these posts help me reflect on my teaching practices
- I hope that I can spark some new paths for other educators to travel down


Keep your clubs, @shareski… I don't think I'll be needing them anytime soon! :)