Blogging Meme: You Can Do It Too
#Rockstar Meme: You Can Do It Too
I was recently invited to participate in the #Rockstar Meme — How Blogging Rocked Your World by one of the most inspiring and kind people I have yet to meet in person, Tracy Watanabe. I am truly honored, and the timing couldn’t be better as I struggle with bringing 21st Century teaching and learning tools to the teachers at our school.
Why blogging?
Why did I start?
One of the other Rockstars honored by Tracy is Denise Krebs. Her blog, Dare to Care, contains this byline: Creating, Contributing, Communicating, Connecting, Collaborating & Curating.
Think about each of those words.
Project New Media Literacies, USC School for Communication and Journalism suggests these: create, circulate, connect, and collaborate.
As the digital world developed, I thought about those words and the internet skills required. I considered my students and their futures. They live in a very rural area, far from universities and often do not have access to the Internet. The digital divide is very real. So New Media Literacies inspired me to connect with other teachers and their students, to circulate ideas, to create projects, and to collaborate with others. I needed to bring opportunities to my students.
How did I start?
Sue Waters at Edubloggers.com teacher challenge helps teachers start blogging, and that challenge really inspired me to blog to connect with others and to clarify my own ideas.
The result?
Blogging for myself now helps me clarify my ideas, circulate them for review by others, consider the feedback or the ideas of other bloggers, and create a better idea by connecting and collaborating with others. And the final “C” is from Denise: Curate. Blogging organizes and archives these ideas and projects for further consideration by myself and others. Tags and categories help organize for searching and sharing, and to link to in your professional portfolio.
So Why blog?
Clarify your thoughts. Circulate your ideas, Connect with others, Consider others’ reflections, Create your own or re-mixed projects and strategies, Collaborate with other teachers and students, and Curate the process and products. Wow!
Clarify. Circulate. Connect. Consider. Create. Collaborate. Curate.
Unexpected blogging benefits
A Student Benefit
Once I started blogging for reflections like this blog, I also started a lesson blog and a teacher blog. Of course, my students wanted to blog too. We started out with comments last year, and will move to blog posts this year. We also started to blog with three other classrooms in a Quad Blog. Blogging, even starting with comments, offers an authentic writing platform that energizes, challenges, and inspires student writing and learning. Students circulate their ideas, clarify their understandings by responding to others, connect with others, consider the conversations, and create new ideas and connections. Responding to a real person, rather than just the teacher develops higher level thinking skills as one writes better to write clearer to be understood. Asking polite questions and clarification develops digital citizenship. Think about the standards covered with these processes: Clarify. Circulate. Connect. Consider. Create. Collaborate. Curate.
A PLN
Once the blogging began, and I discovered so many ideas from so many talented people, my professional and personal learning network expanded. I discovered webinars, strategies, suggestions, etc. directly related to what I needed to do in my classroom to improve student learning with 21st Century tools.
Blogging connects me and my students with innovative and inspirational educators and with ideas for projects. We are inspired! Last week, one of my students asked, “What’s our next project?” and another student replied, “We should do something like our Quad Bloggers did this week.”
Blogging has rocked our world!
If you follow the Rockstars below, you will be inspired to blog also! You can do it too!
The #Rockstar Meme
Besides Tracy, Denise, Linda, Sue, and Kathleen, those who inspire me the most through blogging are the #Rockstars that I’m passing the meme baton to:
Sue Waters with Ronnie Burt Encourages at Edublogs and blogging how-tos
Silvia Tolisano Shares so many HowTos in Language Arts and Digital Learning (Skype; Blogs)
Marsha Ratzel Shares about Google Apps, Blogging, and Other Technologies
Larry Ferlazzo Shares “Best of” Websites, ELL; So much to share!
Nancy Carroll Inspiring Fourth Grade teacher using technology
Paula Naugle Inspires Skyping and Blogging in the classroom
This meme, started by Miguel Guhlin, is about how blogging rocks your world. The typical meme expectations are to link back and comment on the originator’s post, and pass the meme baton to five others. (I know; I had to list six though).
I believe memes are for recognizing others as inspiration, and it’s not actually expected they write a post.
Final thoughts
If you want to be inspired, I highly recommend the six bloggers I named because they are #Rockstars!
Who are your #Rockstars?
How does blogging rock your world?
Thanks again, Tracy Rockstar Watanabe !
Photo Credit:
Image created in Google Apps: Drawing.
Categories
Sheri Edwards View All
Geeky Gramma ~~
Retired Middle School Language Arts/Media Teacher ~~
Writer and Thinker~~
Art from the Heart
1DR What Else? 
Dear Sheri,
You have named some mighty #Rockstars indeed! Without stumbling across the Tweet about the Edublogs Teacher Challenges, who knows where I’d be right now in my own professional development and growth, so I’m grateful to all the time Sue Waters and Ronnie Burt invest in others. My own school district is taking off with blogging now, something that I doubt would have occurred at the rate it is without their help. On a personal level, their Challenges connected me with educators such as you–passionate, dedicated, and inspiring. I remember when you gave me the Essential Question to an idea for commenting guidelines on blogs/forums via webquest or pbl back in January. I started to realize the reward in blogging was through the commenting, the forming of PLN, and the possibility of friendships.
I’ve never met you, but I know you’re a #Rockstar!
Kind regards,
Tracy
Hi Tracy, It’s been such fun following our growing PLN as we share and help each other. I just rediscovered you blog about rubrics, which is something I am working on right now. Its such a give-and-take; win-win world that we have nurtured! I am so glad we all joined the challenge! Sheri
Sheri,
I am so honored to be among those mentioned in your #Rockstar group. The connections we have made through our blogging are truly lasting ones I believe. I remember connecting with you and Denise through the Edublogs Challenge. I remember how nervous I was about leaving comments for fear of embarrassing myself. Instead, I found some truly special individuals (you, for example) who have really been inspirational, helpful and kind. I am thrilled to be a part of your PLN and have you in mine. Your wisdom is far reaching!
Thank you!
Yes, Nancy, that Edublogs Challenge really helped us make connections and learn the fun and benefits of blogging. I feel fortunate to have met all of you; my life is fuller. Thanks.
My dear friend, Sheri,
We have “known” each other for a couple of years now in the online spaces we visit. We are often in the same webinar chat rooms or commenting on the same blog posts. I am always excited when I see your name because I know the conversation will be truly enriched by your comments.
Like you, it was Sue Waters who helped me get started when I read and followed her advise on PLN Yourself. I am good at starting things like the EduBlogs Teacher Challenge and the #JJAProject Photo Challenge, but never seem to stay the course like you do.
Thank you for the honor of be included in your Rockstar Meme. Keep on “rocking” others in all that you do. Hopefully one day we will get to meet face to face. I can’t wait.
Yes, Paula, It has been such a journey through the cloud with you. I have referred people to your blogs and twitter when they ask about Skype and blogging. You’ve always opened up your resources and brought your students along to share their learning also– you make everyone feel welcome and that they, too, can learn the tools that connect people together. Thanks for the comment back!
Find Paula at: Her Classroom Her PLN Blog and Twitter And thanks again Paula for your friendship.