The process

So, writing my first blog was a real discovery process. I found myself wanting to read more blogs to get an idea on what people were doing, and how they work. Firstly I chose Blogger, since I had previous experience there writing a blog for school.
I had a look at the new posts from others doing the challenge, so I wasn't overwhelmed by those that had been doing this for a while!
My first look was at Ruffling a few feathers by Ruth Duke-Norris. She was doing the next step up from me in the blogging challenge, but I liked the layout of her post. This challenged me to find out how to get a good design and to look at the presentation as well as the content.
Took me a couple of goes to get a design I liked and then I moved onto the other blocks that I could add. Loved the idea of a Twitter feed and found myself having to Google how to do this - thought I had it, but missed a step. Finally managed!
I like Ruth's ideas on education and I am now thinking of trying to go to that next stage of writing a blog on how my teaching practice has evolved over time.
Having the Connected Educator #EdBlog15 challenge has given me the push to get this started - I just hope it will continue when I'm back at school - holidays are great for lots of reading and learning, but it's hard to fit that in during term time. Time to make time.

Connected Educator Week

This week has been a week to try and get myself into the habit of writing a blog.
I am frequently on Facebook and Twitter to increase my knowledge and to help my students, but a blog has always eluded me. Maybe now is the time.
I was thinking about what would be the best use of a blog for me and how it would benefit me and my teaching. So... the answer to this is: To be able to collate information and also to reflect on it and decide if it is going to be of use to me in the future.

Firstly, some things that I can't do without...

• Feedly - Where would I be without my Feedly? To be able to have all the reading I do in one place has been fantastic. I can skim through articles and keep them all in one place - love it! And just today they announce you can share a Feedly collection - must look into that as well.
• Twitter - Really enjoying having a Tweetdeck - couldn't be without it. I am not into having every tweet notification on my phone - it would never stop, but I do like being able to look though specific feeds that I have chosen and then read relevant articles.
• Facebook - what a great way to communicate with students. I have none on my personal page, but I run many groups for school and find that 90% of students get more information from FB than from any notice I put up at school. The other 10% still need the notices and we have to be aware that not everyone is on FB, but it is a powerful tool.

Things I've been doing...

• Enjoying getting my portfolio up to date with MyPortfolio - such a great tool and so easy to get things together. Really like being able to keep my PD and CV up to date. I love using it for moderation as well.
• Getting the School of Apps up and running - it's been a great ride. Learning all about the Digital Technology Standards, setting up an innovative learning environment and running a class like no other I have ever run. I love it. Having a job where I can build things is the best I could ask for.
• Starting my blog as part of Connected Educators #EdBlog Challenge. Week 1 on the way.

Things I'd like to do...

• Go to this conference! It sounds like me... leadership, creativity and innovation - I would love this. *sigh. Hopefully they stream some of it :) http://www.icieconference.net/
• Keep building new things. I am always looking for new things to challenge me and always wanting to learn. A blog is just another step in my path.