I used to have a pretty negative view on blogs. I guess because my first encounter with them was my highschool friend's blog and I just felt she was being too open, too self-gratifying, too lofty, including too many pictures, too...too...too...just too much I guess. Has anyone every read a blog, facebook, myspace and felt that way? I also used to look down on my sister with such disdain because she updated her facebook status with regularity and spent hours looking at her 'friends' pages. And now, here I sit, meticulously crafting text for my blog. I spent about two hours last night looking at pictures on facebook, commenting on friends' pages, and truly feeling connected with the people there. Ah, me!
The thing is, the 'edublog' appeals much more to me than a personal blog. I guess I just feel like I don't do that many interesting things, and I won't be a witty as others with more personal blogs. Also, the blogs I read for the assignment didn't seem too self-gratifying, too lofty, or too anything. Well, I have to clarify that actually. I enjoyed reading the blogs that were pretty "clean" looking, but still had lots of information: students' samples, pictures, links to other blogs or sites. Lots of pertinent info, but still uncluttered feeling. One blog I read had lots of ads all along the sides and while the post was EXTREMELY informational, I was a little distracted. I guess you could compare it to a book with an unattractive cover. : /
There's also something very cool about reading a piece that you know someone took time to link or add pictures to. If I saw my students doing that I'd be really excited! I absolutely LOVE the ideas I saw on this blog: http://pc40sw07.blogspot.com/2007/03/transformations.html Student analysis/notetaking, synthesis (check their flickr widget). If I had this when I took trig, I may have stood a chance!
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I have to admit that I took a path very similar to you regarding my views of blogs and Facebook. I never looked at blogs until after I attended NECC 2007 in Atlanta. That was a HUGE turning point for me in my professional practices. After that conference (the mother of all ed tech conferences), I realized how far behind I was keeping myself educated in my field and then went on a virtual (literally) feeding frenzy going from blog to blog and absorbing everything that I could. It's one of the cornerstones of my professional learning and something I simply cannot do without. From there, I started getting into other social networks but had not created a blog for myself. I started on Facebook for professional networking, but it's become something personal for me as former students have found me and I've reconnected with middle school classmates from Kansas that I haven't seen in 25 years! Call me a fish, because I am SO hooked.
ReplyDeleteAs for blogs, I don't read personal blogs. Every blog I subscribe to is education related - all 169 of them. Yikes!
And that "connected" feeling that you referred to what I've come to treasure. At any time I can connect with hundreds of educators who either do what I do or are passionate about using technology in instruction. It's a priceless support network.