Doing it Differently

I joined Edublog's Teacher Blogging Challenge to improve my blogging skills and kick start a new blog ... THIS BLOG! For the first challenge, I decided to write about my life as a blogger.  Me, a blogger . . .

It's hard to believe that two or three years ago I didn't even know what a blog was.  I have Katri O'Neill to thank for my transformation.  She taught a graduate course at St. Michael's College on integrating technology.  Until that summer, I used email to communicate with friends and colleagues, I surfed the net for lesson plans or information, and I shopped and paid my bills online.  That was it. After this class my mind was spinning . . . web 2.0, podcasts, blogging, Photostory!  So many new things to try.

About half way through the school year, I took the plunge and started blogging.  I didn't know a lot about blogging, but I knew it had the potential to be a powerful tool for learning.  We used 21 classes because it was a protected blogging community.  My students loved having their own blog they could customize to show their personality.  That first year we blogged, we tried, we failed, we succeeded and we learned!

A few months after my students started blogging, I revisited the blog I had created over the summer: Looking Glass.  I blogged for a few months without telling anyone.  Kid blogging was one thing, but teacher blogging was risky.  What if I was a terrible writer?  What if no one read my blog?  What if, what if, what if   . . . The truth is that once I started, I couldn't stop!  That year, I became a blogger, not just a teacher offering blogging to her students. 

Soon after, I began following blogs and checking out other classroom blogs.  This gave me more insight and understanding of what it meant to be a blogger.  Now when I introduce blogging to my students, the first thing I tell them is that bloggers blog about things they care about.  It is for this reason that I start this blog.  I am passionate about differentiating with technology.  I care about meeting the needs of my students in the 21st Century.