Blogging Challenge - Tooting My Own Horn

This challenge is all about promoting my blog. And that is not something I'm very good at doing. I don't mind sharing the link with the staff at my school. I do toss it out there to them now and then. But beyond that, I've never really promoted myself until this challenge. And even then, only through the process of leaving comments on other blogs participating in the challenge.

So maybe it is time to stretch my wings.

I'm making a commitment to push myself in three new ways.

I'm going to comment much more often on blogs of other folks. I know that is a nice way to build networking and I'm going to be more active in that.

I'm going to include info and links to my blog more often in our school newsletters. That will build more of a connection to staff and parents.

And lastly, I do have a Twitter account. I never tweet...I just check other people. But I'm gonna give Twitter a real try. I'm gonna Tweet. Not to often, probably, but I'll at least give it a good try. And I'll use that as a resource for sharing a link to one of my blog posts now and then. So if you want to follow along, you can find me at  @eharden.

Hope to run into you there!

Playing Catch Up - Teacher Challenge #6 and #7

Snow days. Sick days. Seems I'm having more days away from school than in school. And we are anticipating more time out of school this week due to more inclement weather. Oh well, we all wanted to work till the middle of July, right?

So I've missed two challenges due to missing school. Fortunately for me, I can roll them both into one post. I know I probably shouldn't, but time is an issue when I'm so far behind on everything!

Challenge #6 was about using media in our blogs. This is one I can think about - but not do. At least not today. I'm not sure how slides or video would enhance my blog at this point. A slide show of what? I guess it could be step-by-step instructions to doing a task, though I've usually done that with just two or three photos. And it could be a powerpoint from a recent presentation, though my slides are often just graphics or a few words to catch the eye while I talk about the topic. As a stand-alone, the slides are somewhat meaningless.

So using media is something I'll have to ponder.

Challenge #7 was all about widgets in the sidebar. And my sidebar is already full of them! Most of what is there I like...but a bit of updating might be in order here. As I write this, my sidebar contains (top to bottom):

About Me - something I think should stay, even though we created an About Me page. I like having some bit of info right on the front page for readers.

River Street School Online - a widget with links to other key pages for our school. This seems important as a way of giving people easy access to other information about our program.

Subscribe To - a quick and easy way for readers to subscribe to posts or comments via RSS.

Labels - providing a quick way for readers to find items of interest. Though I wonder, is there a better way? I know I need a Labels area...but the long list takes up a lot of sidebar space. Maybe a more condensed way of presenting the information?

Shared Items - the five most recent links to items I've shared from my RSS feed. I like this feature...not sure anyone else cares.

My Blog List - another good reference, I think. But again, a pretty long list to scroll through. Not sure about how good that is.

Great Sites To Visit - a static list of a few sites that I would need to update and work with more to really make that meaningful. This one will probably go away.

And what is missing that we should have there? I have no tracking for visitors. So I need to add that. Check back soon to see if anything changes!

The Eyes of the Blog - Teacher Challenge #5

This challenge is all about using good photos on your blog. A photo tells a story. A few photos can tell a very detailed story...or even more than one story. And photos definitely make the blog more appealing visually.

But I very rarely use photos. My blog is about tech stuff - links to good resources, short tutorials for doing different things with the computer, and a few bits of opinion and advice about technology. Not a lot of reason to break out the digital camera and take photos. And not much reason to use Flickr or Google Image Search in an effort to find the perfect image.

Nope, most of my graphic enhancement comes from capturing screen images right on my computer as a way of demonstrating a certain technique or of showing off a web site.

For instance, I recently wrote a little post about the tools I use to capture those screen shots. And my favorite tool among this is a free download called Skitch. Skitch can do a lot of things, but for me, it is a tool for capturing images on my screen for sharing. And for marking up those images, as needed. For example, here is a capture of the Teacher Challenge Activity for today...

And here is a capture of that same section of the web page with a couple of highlights thrown in as an example of how to draw your attention to key words on the page.

I know, boring stuff. But those types of images are consistent with the purpose of the blog. And I've enjoyed learning more about doing screen captures for the purpose of my blog. Though I suppose I should stretch myself a bit and explore some ways to incorporate some actual photos. I'm just not sure the best way to do that and still really serve the purpose of the blog.

Maybe a photo of me sitting at my desk typing a blog post. Now that would be exciting.

Could I Be An Avatar

Today's Teacher Blog Challenge is all about me. Not what I typically write about, for sure. But I'm willing to go down this road on the idea that establishing my identity is sort of like branding. Yesterday we worked on the "about me" page...today we work on creating a visual cue to who we are.

The challenge was to try some of the online sites that allow folks to create avatars of themselves and see how that works. I gave one a try...the Picassoheads site. There you get the tools to create your own impressionist image of yourself. It was fun to play around with, but I generally don't feel that any type of art falls within my strengths. And that is especially true if I'm trying to create me! But as I browsed the galleries on the site, I realized it didn't even need to resemble me...it just needed to be a consistent image that would represent me. So with that knowledge in mind...I picassoed myself!

Not too impressive. And not exactly the avatar I would want representing me as a professional.

I would rather work from a photo of myself. I know, many folks are not comfortable posting their photos online. But I'm okay with it. So I grabbed a photo - an older head shot cause I shaved that mustache after 27 years...

And I took off to try some other options.

At BeFunky, I ended up with a watercolor of myself. Not too bad...

And then I headed over to PhotoFunia and created two more options. The second watercolor option - which I like better than the first...

And the pencil drawing...perhaps my favorite...

Not sure which one I'll stick with. For now I'm tossing the pencil drawing on my profile. But I'll have to give it some thought to see if I want to stick with that or just go with the basic photo.

Before and After The Spring Clean

It seems the weather in Connecticut is determined to prevent education from taking place. Today is only our third day of work in the past eight days. So I'm just a tad behind in the Teacher Challenge.

This particular challenge was about Pages. Pages are the muscles of the blog. Well, at this point, my blog might be the 98-pound weakling.

I created an "About Me" page today as part of the challenge. I'm not entirely sure it says anything that would make someone want to read my blog more often. So I'm certainly open to comments and suggestions.

And I already had two other pages - Older Posts and Resources.

Older Posts - Prior to setting up my blog on Blogger this year, I blogged sporadically on Edublogs. I had chosen Edublogs because, well, it seemed more about educators. But my personal blog was on Blogger. I had experimented over the years. I had learned how to tweak an HTML bit here and there. I had a better grasp of using the widgets, importing graphics, etc. So I moved my professional blog to Blogger this year just cause I felt more comfortable. So the Older Posts page is really nothing more than a link to the older posts on Edublogs. That can stay in place.

Resources - I really thought it would be nice to build a resources page for teachers. But as part of the Spring Cleaning piece of this, I'm considering tossing that one out. Resources are great. But links change. Web sites come and go. And I wonder will I really have time to go back to all those links periodically and check each one, updating as needed? I think not. So I'm thinking a better place to put resources would be right in the main blog postings. For example, on Friday I posted about some good sites to print out calendar pages. Maybe it just makes sense to post about resources as I find them, tag them well, and let that be a place for folks to find the resources they need? Again, comments or suggestions would be welcome on the best way to do this.

I'm enjoying this Teacher Challenge. It is certainly making me think. And hopefully improve. And I'm finding some great blogs to follow as I connect with others who are doing the same challenge.

An Effective Blog Post

Today's challenge is to locate and share an effective blog post. That's easy. I'm going to direct my readers to Richard Byrne's post So You Want To Be a Writer? In fact, I could just direct you to Richard's entire blog because I think all of his posts qualify as good examples of effective posts.

Why?

For one thing, the title tells me what I'm gonna read. It might be catchy or it might not...but it is very clear. I know what I'm gonna get. And when time is short and I'm trying to read a bunch of items, I like being able to choose what to read from titles that are clear and to the point.

Richard is also to the point. He doesn't waste time with extraneous writing. He gives a nice intro to the topic, provides links to resources, and sometimes includes a short video with instructions. The end. I've gained a new resource and/or learned a new skill.

When I'm reading personal blogs on my own time, I enjoy a funny story, a cute photo, a tale that is well told. But when I'm learning and gathering resources during my professional time, I like a blog that offers consistent, quality information...good links...and clear explanations...without a lot of extra stuff. Richard's blog, Free Technology for Teachers, does just that.

Kick Starting The Blog - Even After It Has Started

Blogging is fun. Blogging is also a challenge. In an effort to have some fun and improve my blogging skills, I'm participating in the Teacher Challenge at Edublogs. For the next 30 days, they are posting tasks to be completed that are designed to help bloggers in education enhance their skills. Let's see how it works!

The first task it to write a post on "10 things you should know about blogging". So here is my list of 10...

1.  Blogging is harder than it looks. Yep, let's get that out of the way right up front. For me it is harder because it takes time. Time that I don't always have to give on a busy day. And it takes some creative thinking. I have to choose what to write about that I think will both inform and help my readers. And coming up with those topics also takes time. More time. For me, simply coming up with topics and having the time to write them is harder than I imagined it would be.

2.  Blogging is easier than it looks. Paradox? Sorta. Anything with technology has the risk that it can turn into a complex activity. And blogs around the 'net have so many pretty graphics and slide shows and videos and layouts...surely that can't be accomplished without a degree in computer science and a massive HTML reference library. And yet, that is the easiest part of blogging. I've blogged professionally on edublogs and google. I've blogged personally on google and posterous. And all those platforms make it extremely easy to manage the blog, make it look nice, connect it to all sorts of cool items with various widgets, and more. So it really has been easier - from a technical sense - than I ever imagined.

3.  Blogging takes time. I know, this was part of number one. But this is such a HUGE hurdle for me, personally, that I wanted to mention it again. Right now, as I type this, I've got a "to do" list on my desk that is longer than a novel. And I start teaching a 3-part workshop tomorrow on Social Networking...might be nice to finalize that and go over my notes. So carving out a few minutes of my morning to think through my list, to write the post, and to create the tag cloud is a definite time challenge.

4.  Blogging lets me be creative. And that is fun! I love writing when I actually have the time. I love tinkering with layouts and widgets. I love finding fun graphics to include now and then. So as a creative outlet, this is a good one.

5.  Blogging lets me learn. Oh boy, does it let me learn! I've learned how to set up a blog, how to work with templates, how to use various tools such as Grab and Skitch and Wordle and others to create graphics, show screen shots, etc. I've learned to create lots of links to other sites. I actually have even learned just a touch of HTML to tweak my blog a bit. So it has been an incredible opportunity for me to learn new things.

6.  Blogging as a "regular" person will never result in all those comments and connections that the "pros" have. Most of the blogs I follow seem to be written by folks who also write books on technology or present at conferences around the world. They have dozens of comments on every blog post and hundreds of twitter followers. My blog will never compete. I usually get NO comments. So I have to keep my ego in check and keep in mind that I'm writing to help the staff at my school and possibly a few others. I'm not writing to win awards and be the People's Choice as Blogger Of The Year.

7.  Blogging saves work. That's right...it saves work! And this is the counterpoint to all that time invested. Since so many of my posts are based on identified needs in the school where I work, once I write it, I no longer have to travel from classroom to classroom to demonstrate that same technique or share a resource. So carving out the time to write allows me later to just refer folks to the blog. Time saved.

8.  Blogging helps me network. Even though I'm not a popular blogger like some folks, I have met many nice folks through both professional and personal blogging. I'm part of a blogging alliance of educators. And I've established some connections through this medium that I would have never had in any other way. And that has been fun and helpful.

9.  Blogging is something I sometimes want to quit. And you will, too. There are days where I just feel that no one is reading. No one is learning. No one cares. And I just want to stop. And that is often when I get trapped in to not posting for a week or more. And that is something I have to push through...remembering the benefits of blogging and staying on track. But no matter how many benefits, there are still those days.

10.  Bloggers will never be able to avoid a post that is some sort of list of "ten things....". Just like this one. There are always memes, lists, whatever. Do the ones you enjoy. Do NOT feel obligated to do every little thing that comes along.

There...ten things you should know about blogging. Or maybe, it is just ten things I should remember about blogging - especially on those days when I want to quit. Cause really, I do enjoy it and want to get better!