Image credit: Reflection by Astrid Westvang. CC Licensed on Flickr.
In the last 28 days I have added 25 new posts to this blog (including this one). In most cases, each took 28 minutes to write, proof read, grab an image for an post. By comparison, you’d have to go back to Dec 2012 to find the start of the previous 25 posts.
Firstly, I’m grateful for Tom for the excuse to get back to the blog. And I know it sounds silly, but there is really a part of me that thinks ‘well, I’ve said I will…’, and that’s got me off the sofa at the end of the day and got a post written. I’ve signed up to the next month as well, although I’m thinking of doing something a little different for March (more of which should become clear from tomorrow). If you’re in any doubt as to whether you should sign up or not, just do it!
I was initially worried that I’d struggle with content as I’m out of the classroom at the moment, but that hasn’t seemed to be too much of a problem. The creation of an ‘ideas garden’ has helped me by having a place to note down ideas when they occur so I’ve got something to do back to when the well of inspiration runs dry. I’ve also quite enjoyed creating the ‘I have mostly been reading’ posts as it provides a good reason to go back over some of things that I’ve marked to keep in my feed reader. That’s something I think I’m going to try and keep going, at least on an occasional basis.
I’ve discovered another heap of blogs to read and people to discover on Twitter, and got me much more into the habit of commenting on other people’s blogs. Again, having a slight excuse to fall back on when thinking ‘should I or shouldn’t I’ has helped me lean for the former rather than the latter. The #28daysofcommenting should help that further.
This month of blogging has also led me to StaffRm, which I wrote about back here. My initial concerns about the slightly locked down nature of the platform have been allayed in part by the amazing sense of community that exists there (it’s like Twitter in the ‘old days’!) and way in which the team behind the site have been so keen to engage in a conversation about how things like RSS could be added to the site. I still have to completely figure out the relationship between this blog and my space there, but it’s not a place I’ll be abandoning anytime soon. If you’re a teacher thinking about starting a blog, go and hang out there for a bit. Your mind will (hopefully) soon be made up!
My involvement in the project has also forced me to do a bit of spring cleaning on this blog itself. I’ve upgraded all the software and tweaked some plugins. I’m loving the ‘Jetpack’ plugin which provides not only better social media links at the bottom of each post, but also some interesting site statistics. I’ve never been massively interested in the analytics of the blog before, but there is something quite interesting about finding out which posts seem to be drawing the most visitors, and how they’re finding them.
Overall, I’m really pleased I signed up to this – my thanks to Tom for putting it all together, and everyone who’s posts I’ve read over the last 28 days.
Here’s to the next month, and beyond.
Dave, I related to a lot in your post in regards to the challenge. While I didn’t sign up for the next round, the challenge has definitely inspired me to blog and connect more. I love your idea garden, I just started using Evernote and might need to give that a try. I image the reminder feature would be helpful for scheduling posts as well. I’m looking forward to seeing your idea for the next round!
Thanks for the comment Jen – and as I said on Twitter, apologies that it got eaten! Took the first few days of March off, but planning on trying to get back on with the posting each day from now until the end of the month. Good luck your own one too!