The educational realm of the Internet: A place where sharing is encouraged, but for the newbie, the audience can be perceived as a pack of hungry wolves idly waiting to tear your ideas apart...

If this is your thinking as someone new to educational blogging, tweeting, or sharing of information, I want to stop you dead in your tracks.  There is certainly a scary notion to sharing your ideas on the Internet, particularly through the forum of blogging, where what you share can be accessed and criticized at any moment.  At least a tweet disappears down a feed and is less and less likely to be accessed again after some time has passed.  I would argue that easy access and susceptibility to criticism is the #1 reason that the "newbies" and "lurkers" don't share their work in passion areas in a blog format.  While that reason is certainly valid, I have several reasons to counter that thought.


Who Are You Blogging For? 

Blogging should first and foremost be of value to the sharer.  My personal mission with blogging is to better develop my educational ideas so that I can better educate my students.  When I began writing my blog posts, I found that my motivation to make my ideas "airtight" increased - to rethink all possible angles, to craft my ideas and transform them from something good into something great. My ideas became more than a simple thought that floated through my mind just as I was about to fall asleep; they became strategized published works and they developed further than I could have imagined some of them developing.  Reflective processes are greatly strengthened as a result of sharing because you anticipate the criticism before it even comes.  It should be considered that you are very likely impacting and helping others through the sharing of your ideas, but it should not be your primary focus.  While it's great to help others as a result of your blog, you should be helping yourself first! 

I Don't Have the Gift of the Written Word!

What if I don't have the ability to "box up ideas" and tie a bow on them? Guess what?  That ability doesn't develop overnight.  Worse yet, what if I don't have any ideas?!  Relax!  The best writers in the world didn't learn their craft by opening up a webpage, slapping random ideas onto it, and clicking "publish."  They brainstormed.  They dreamed.  They wrote.  They re-wrote. They threw it out.  And then they started again.  Even as I write this very post, I'm keeping notes for myself at the bottom of the text box of what I need to accomplish in this post and things I've cut out because they just don't fit.  Some of those cuts have even given me ideas for future posts.  As an added bonus, blogging has helped to further develop my writing abilities and to forge my own personal style .  As you, too, continue to practice that craft, you, too, will become better at it. 


What Are People Going To Say About It?

Of course, we have to touch on criticism.  Criticism is a tricky concept to address because everyone takes it differently. Personally, I've always been the person who has focused on the single piece of negative feedback swimming in the greater sea of positive feedback.  I'm finding that there are a ton of people like me who practice that bad habit.  However, something that Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like A Pirate, writes about criticism rings mighty true in my ears: 

Through blogging, I've learned to take criticism as an opportunity to better myself.  Instead of viewing it simply as criticism, I view it as constructive criticism.  If a person is taking the time to pick apart my idea, then it is in my best interests to explore why that is occurring.  Perhaps there is an avenue I hadn't considered?  Or perhaps the context of the idea is not well-communicated through my writing style?  I always try to spin that commentary into a positive question that will help me learn how to better develop and communicate my ideas.  Educators are not meant to be islands; let the criticism of others remind you that you can be better tomorrow than you were today. 

The last thing on this topic: there typically isn't that much criticism to be had in the blogosphere.  As mentioned earlier, the tendency to focus on the negative that might happen is what instigates the fear to post in the first place.  The truth is this: the online educational world is FULL of positive and amazingly supportive individuals who will undoubtedly extend that same courtesy to you.  Feel comfort in knowing that they're anything but the "hungry pack of wolves" that I alluded to at the beginning of this post. 


How Do I Start?

That answer is simple: Pick a blogging tool and GO!!!  

I use Weebly because I love the drag and drop interface (very easy for beginner bloggers), but there is also Blogger, Edublogs, Wordpress, Tumblr... I'm sure the list goes on.  Pick one that fits with your tech abilities and/or workflow.  Once you have it set up, draft a bunch of different working titles based on your ideas and topics of interest.  I usually have 5-6 saved drafts going at one time and I'll add pieces to them here and there as I see fit.  Honestly, though, most of the time I just get an idea and complete the post in the same day.  It really helps me sort out the weaker topics that I come up with and builds relevance for my day-to-day observations of my world or areas I need to build upon for my teaching practice. 
 

It is my hope that this post can inspire new bloggers to take the plunge and start sharing their innovative ideas.  I invite all of my readers, whether new to blogging or a seasoned blogger, to continue this conversation and share feedback with me by leaving a comment below.  Thanks for reading!

- Victoria

Disclaimer: This post is long. Buckle your seatbelts.

In July, I made a last minute decision to take a trip.  I had no idea where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do, or whom I wanted to meet; I just wanted to get away from my house in Langley and explore someplace new.  After much deliberation, my finger landed on San Francisco - a city that boasts history, beauty, and an enriched culture, and a region that gives a curious tourist like me much to do.

I contacted a few Twitter friends on the matter and the trip turned into something much more than a simple getaway - it turned into an experience of a lifetime.  Life-changing even, or so I tell people who ask.  Immediately upon hearing that, the listener’s thought is spurred: “How exactly was it life-changing?” Well, here’s what made it life-changing for me:

People I knew only through the series of tubes that is the Internet – talented and dedicated educators whom I held the utmost respect for – offered the most jaw-dropping hospitality I’ve ever experienced...  Welcome to Hotel California! They opened their doors for me, toured me around, drove me and my infamous suitcase where we needed to go, and introduced me to a world that I hadn’t imagined possible before.  I got to talk edtech with leaders in the field day after day, meet with app developers, and explore the campuses of edtech giants such as Google and Apple.  I attended CUE Rock Star Teacher Camp where I had the pleasure of assisting Drew Minock with his mini keynote presentation on Augmented Reality and met even more amazing people who I will undoubtedly continue to work with in the future.

So how is that life-changing exactly? Because my online connections became real. They turned into people that I can now confidently call my friends, and ones I will continue to work with on future educational projects.

David Malone, Alice Keeler, and Diane Darrow are now more than superstars behind a Twitter handle. Sharing the experience of touring Google and Apple with them was priceless. These people are just honest-to-goodness kind people who all have their own inspiring impact on education, and happened to include me on their journey! 

David and his family opened their home to me and made me feel like one of their own.  The hospitality of this amazing family is unmatched. Seriously. Oh, and be sure to check out his iTunesU course. Reading assessment game-changer.

Alice is easily one of the most fiery and passionate educators I’ve ever met.  From “lively device debater” to life coach, I seriously started to take notes.  Then again, I didn’t really have to take notes because it’s ALL on her awesome blog.

Diane holds a special spot in my heart. She is funny, engaging, and she LOVES kids. She is knowledgeable and will not hesitate to offer her advice on classroom ideas – of which she has many that engage higher order skills.  And playing Android action figures with her on the ride back from Apple/Google wasn’t bad, either. 

The amazingly cool Karl Lindgren-Streicher brought the most real, down-to-earth educational voice to this trip that I could have asked for. Not only did he push my standards, he also made me think about education from the stance of a content-specific high school teacher rather than as an elementary generalist.  And he gave me a nickname that may live through the ages, much to my dismay. 

Lisa Highfill is seriously the nicest human being on the planet – I could sit and talk with her for hours about edtech tools and classroom models that turn us into giddy geeks.  Efficient workflow strategies for the win! 

Diane Main was a treat - she is hilarious. Our trip to Santa Cruz with the international MERIT attendees will not soon be forgotten… And neither will #spatula jokes.

Drew – or as I more endearingly referred to him, “Michigan” - and I explored the city for days together seeing the sights and meeting app developers. He NEVER stops working for those who are curious, but he is very professional and has so many awesome ideas for classroom applications with software. I am excited to continue working with Drew and his class in the upcoming school year on some global collaboration projects. And if you don’t know about his site, be sure to remedy that and click there NOW.

Sam Patterson and Wokka Patue swiftly became a normal sight in my days, providing endless laughs and bringing oodles of fun into the Rock Star conference. The live #patue chat was a blast, too! 

Carrie Gehringer, my #patue buddy, was insanely fun to hang out with on the fantail of the USS Hornet.  She brings a laid-back, cool-cat attitude that we all need in our lives. 

John Stevens and I met at the Palo Alto #brewcue and became fast friends, relating on everything from sharing the same birthday to our awe towards the impact of Twitter as a PLN. Oh, and he hosts/contributes to a gazillion educational websites (link to one of them) and is the most talented “shredder” I’ve ever met. (Check out the "Shreds" section of that link to find out for yourself.) This guy is going places.

Scott Inman was a riot, from finding cream cheese from breakfast in his pockets late in the evening to clunking down his “bag of tricks” on the fantail. He was also nice enough to give Drew and I a ride to the BART after Rock Star was over. Amazing guy.

Erin Lunde, the girl who just happened to sit next to Drew and I in our first session at CUE Rock Star, won MVP for staying on the boat after hours despite her commitments.  Give her a follow – she WILL get excited. 

Curt and the Hornet crew played amazing hosts on this floating museum.  What an amazing place to hold an ed-conference and they made it worth every penny with their knowledge, expertise, and of course, direction-giving. (IT WAS A  MAZE)

And finally, Jon Corippo, the master mind, or as he calls himself “the baby daddy, “ behind CUE Rock Star, was incredibly generous and flexible in the way he ran the conference, making it into the experience that fit the people that were there.  He made it possible for all of us “crazy teachers” to connect with ease through this conference model.  I’m SO excited to return again next year to the Bay Area Rock Star conference.

I could continue.... I could. But sincerely, there is no way for me to scratch the surface of the impact of this trip on my view of the world of education, and my view of my PLN, but I had to try.  (And I’m sure you’re all wondering when this thing is going to end, even though I gave you fair warning with my disclaimer.) 

I am so honoured (yes, the Canadian way) to have spent time with these eduawesome people, among many more who I met on my trip.  Life-changing? Yes...