Kimberly Moritz BlogPosts

Reason #1 for Administrators to Blog

We’re relatively isolated in our work, right? We work with people all day and we might be able to meet as an administrative team, but that doesn’t mean that the high school principal understands the issues the special ed director has to handle. It doesn’t mean that real conversation can happen when we’re so busy managing the day to day operations. It doesn’t mean that there’s a culture within the school system that encourages people to stretch their thinking, try new things, or step away from the status quo.

Blogging is one way that administrators can make those connections. Blogging isn’t just about writing for me, it’s about reading first. I have 22 feeds in my bloglines account that I read every day–educational experts like Chris Lehmann, David Warlick, and Will Richardson. New sources like CNN, the Buffalo News, the Jamestown Post-Journal, SED, and author Seth Godin’s blog provide me with my daily news jolt. And then I read the blogs of a few friends and colleagues including my college roommate Lisa Rosendahl, who’s now an HR Director and popular blogger in Minnesota.

They inspire my thinking, provide me with new ideas, challenge my thinking with their posts or comments on my blog. The news feeds are oftentimes my only connection to the world outside of our district. Let’s face it, on those 14 hour days we put in a couple of times per week, I have no idea what’s going on in the world. Blogs and other RSS feeds are my main connection to the world and a good source of professional development–I’m learning and growing through the reading I do here.

I’ve been writing this blog since July of 2006, more than three years now. My thoughts on this topic haven’t changed much since this post on July 17, 2006, Blogging as Professional Growth. It worked for me then and it’s still working now.