Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Getting back on the horse

I haven't been blogging as much as I used to. I seem to have hit a wall. The problem is I have changed focus. I have stepped out of the classroom and I am wondering what to focus on. I still work with teachers as an ICT Facilitator however, in this new cohort, I don't think any of them are blog readers (yet!). So they are not the focus for my writing (yet). In my other new job I spend most of my time in front of the computer being the online editor for the NZ Curriculum Online website. This means that I feel less like being on the computer during my down time.

But I miss blogging.

I still read all the feeds in my feedreader. I still listen to the podcasts in my itunes. But I seem to find it difficult to be a producer. As a classroom teacher I could eagerly write about the exciting things happening in my room. However as the editor of a website it seems like promotion to write about the cool things I have put up online. For example there are some fantastic arts resources developed around the curriculum which I was so excited about I sent them to my colleagues in an email but I didn't blog about them. I spent some time interviewing educators in Canterbury for an article I wrote which I was very pleased about and thought contained some inspirational content, but I didn't blog about that either.

I have now :)

I suppose I have to still see that this blog is about what I find interesting and hopefully will be useful to others. It is about my thoughts and opinions and not those of my employers. It is the virtual record of me.

So I suppose that means I'm back. I am going to continue writing in this new phase of my career and see where it takes me.

PS... check out these cool things I've been playing with:
Glogster - a 'sooooo' cool (according to my daughter) site to make posters with web interactivity
Miro - after playing with it, it seems to be an app that lets you store all your videos plus search and download from different places (including Youtube etc) to build up your own channels. One click and you are in good quality full screen.
Capzles - This excellent site lets you build a timeline and embed audio and video etc. Would be fantastic to build a timeline of a student's reading over a year with a picture of them holding the book and the audio of them reading. Imagine this going home as a Christmas present for mum after you have used it for assessment :)
Moourl - this site is a tiny url creator which can live on your browser toolbar. But it is cute :)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jane-
I was pleased to find a post from you in my Google Reader this morning. I don't know how big your cohort is, and how diffuse geographically, but your an excellent writer and it would be a shame not to read your insights at more than 140 chars and it might be a huge benefit to your cohort.
-Skip

Anonymous said...

Jane,

Good to have you back, all be it briefly. Transition is hard to manage, I know how you are feeling. When I left the class to become a specialist ICT teacher, I felt as though I had lost an arm for a while. But as you allude to, your focus is changing and as you align your new directions and priorities a new target audience will come into view. As the Tim Allen says in 'Galaxyquest' "Never give up! Never surrender!"

Simon said...

Good to hear from you. I too have struggled with my blog in these past days. I used to write a lot more reflectively and perhaps that's why peaople read, now its more a list of my goings on. Just because I'm an educator my blog doesn't have to educational in that sense. Helpful, encouraging, even useful occasionally but to be thinking "In my blog 'We are learning to...'" is a stretch and to be honest too much of a burden.

Marnie said...

Well Jane, from a classroom teacher's perspective it is actually really helpful if you blog about any useful resources you make/find and have added to your site as I am never going to find the time to regularly check that site for changes - if you post about it I know there are things worth looking at. Hope that is stimulation enough for you!

Iain CB said...

Hi Jane,

I know how you feel! I have been struggling with my blogging as well, and it's not from lack of passion. Other things just seem to have piled up and my blog has slipped down the to do list.

Like you, I do still read through my blog roll, and love to hear what everyone else is up to. It's just been hard trying to decide recently what is 'blog worthy'...