Comments on: Blogging as Professional Growth

By: paul

paul — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 13:41:17 +0000

I’ve been blogging for about a year now, and I can attest to the value of blogging as a tool for professional growth. In particular, I subscribe to dozens of news feeds (RSS feeds) relating to K-12 education, technology, and public relations (I am a communicator). Checking these news feeds every couple of days has led me to some really helpful sources of information that I can use on the job, not to mention meeting some kindred souls out there in the world.

By: ilana

ilana — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 22:34:00 +0000

Blogging as Professional Growth.

Since my blog does focus on this topic, amongth others, I’d like to invite Hebrew readers to read it.

The link to my blog is: http://israblog.nana.co.il/blogread.asp?blog=266004

By: ilana

ilana — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:58:37 +0000

continuation:
It was the Giuseppe Verdi’s opera: Rigoletto!
Thousands of people gathered in an amphitheater. Many of them were “refugees” from our northern settlements.
This was a very exciting & special evening!
I am very proud of the the people in my country!

This comment isn’t relevant to your topic: “Blogging as Professional Growth”, but I wanted to share this
experience with you.
As you wrote: “I’m blown away by this connection”…
Let’s keep it.
Ilana

By: ilana

ilana — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:35:37 +0000

Hi Kimberly,
Would you and your fellow bloggers believe that this evening, in the midst of war, the municipality of Tel Aviv has organized a huge production: I’ve been there, it was

By: G-Town talks » Talking about connections. . .

G-Town talks » Talking about connections. . . — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:40:39 +0000

[...] Nothing prepared me for the connection made through a comment left on one of my posts today. Looks like my new friend Ilana and I will be emailing each other, as unfortunately, I can’t read the Hebrew that her blog is written in from Israel. I’m blown away by this connection. Ilana just took the headlines from CNN, Mideast talks fail to reach cease-fire agreement and reminded me of the individuals living, working and blogging through the chaos in countries much more like my own than the headlines sometimes indicate. [...]

By: ilana

ilana — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 13:05:45 +0000

Hello,
I am a new Israeli blogger & I must admit that I feel exactly like you.
I wish you could read my blog…it is written in Hebrew.
I am responsible of an information center in a public library.
My 40 volunteers + me help citizens & try to solve their problems. Sometimes those problems follow me home…
My new blog is sort of therapy…especially now, that we struggle for our existence in Israel. It helps me share my thoughts, feelings & also is a working tool..I use it in order to empower the information center.
Thanks for your time.
Ilana

By: Bob Hill

Bob Hill — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:06:02 +0000

Kim, even as a retired teacher I can absolutely empathise with your notions that the big world is not really intersted in what has happened during your school day. And blogging really does make a difference, just to let off steam.

By: Brian Crosby

Brian Crosby — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 04:31:06 +0000

Kim – You are right – most “non-teachers” really don’t connect with teaching well enough to understand all you’re going through both the good AND the frustrations/disconnects. They mean well (and I’m sure this is true of many jobs) but after awhile you’re just whining and who cares that Johnny had a pencil AND paper today and got to work right away!? I’m lucky my wife also teaches and this coming year we will both be teaching the same grade – 4th – she at one of the highest income schools in our district and me at one of the lowest income schools in the district. We always have interesting stories for each other and some great comparing goes on – she has to set an upper limit on how many parents can go on a field trip (8 to 14 depending on the trip) and they have to sign-up on a first come basis – whereas I sometimes have no parents going along and almost never more than 1 or 2.

By: Weblogg-ed » How Blogging Connects

Weblogg-ed » How Blogging Connects — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 23:04:30 +0000

[...] Kim is writing powerfully about her practice, and a few days ago she posted this: Here’s the amazing thing about blogging for me. When I go home to my family or talk to friends, noone really wants to talk about education, or my ideas, or drop out prevention, or student achievement. Mystandard response to “how was your day?” is “great” and that’s about it. But I still have my students, school and it’s challenges swirling around in my head a substantial percentage of the time. So now I find blogging and it’s an instant connection to others who are interested in the same thing. [...]

By: TC

TC — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:43:06 +0000

It strikes me that as adults we realize we rarely have ‘all the answers,’ but when we’re students we’re used to adults having all the answers.

I guess I wonder how empowering (or enlightening?) it would be for high school students to realize that adults have to sometimes wrestle with their decisions and deal with the issue of not always knowing if their decision was the ‘right one’ even though the expectation is that “adults have all the answers.”

I see the potential in blogging for kids to see a different side of teachers and administrators. Perhaps a less guarded, and even more vulnerable side. The question is whether or not that’s a bad thing?

I guess I’ll continue to wrestle with that one. Thanks for your thoughts Kim!