So as an educator there were several new things that I wanted to try out this year - a structured word study program, using Flickr to share photos with parents, completing my Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy, starting a masters, and maintaining a class blog. Well I will say that I did try all of these things and some are going quite well, while others are getting the better of me. On the good side are the word study and completing my certificate (this is my last required post). On the more challenging side are Fliker, the masters, and the class blog.
I started off full speed in the fall uploading pictures to Flickr and posting weekly to the class blog. Then when the December break came around I just couldn't get myself started again. The excuses are many and I'm not going to go into all of those. Instead I'm going to decide how to make next year's class blog more manageable and sustainable for me. I will start by choosing a blog format that better fits my vision. This year there were things that I wanted to do that my blog wouldn't support and I found that quite frustrating. I am a big list and schedule person so next year I will have a list and schedule to make sure that all of the curriculum areas get equal coverage on the class blog. When I was posting this year, I tried to have a post done every Friday. I think for me a better day would be on Wednesday because by Friday afternoon I'm pretty much done. Ultimately I would like to be able to post events quickly and on the same day, but I'm not sure I'm quite there yet. I think it will be worth it for me to invest in my own Flickr account next year. Just so that it is easier to manipulate the organize my photos.
The class blog experience this year wasn't all bad though. I did manage to keep the posts all about the kids and not use them as a notice boards. Also, because I wanted the blog to be something that parents looked at with their children, I always shared posts with the class before I published them. That was also a great way to proof read the posts to make sure they were mechanically correct and said what I wanted them to say.
For next year I'm going to try to remember what I have said many times in many of my posts to this blog - less is more & keep it simple.
***I do want to say a big "THANK YOU!" to the wonderful Tech-Team that we have at ISB. Without the support and encouragement of Kim, Jeff, and Dennis I would never even have attempted to use Flickr or start a class blog. You all ROCK!!!!!***
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You are amazing Cindy! You took on five major challenges and you actually followed through with all of them! And, on top of that, you learned something and have developed strategies to implement those challenges even more successfully next year. I am consistently in awe of your calm, can-do attitude. Nothing fazes you and you're always willing to try something new. Thank you for all that you've done (and will continue to do), you're an inspiration!
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