Determining my new priorities was something of a challenge, but I’ve had the summer to think and plan. Ironically, peace was achieved only through a practice that tends to stir up quite a bit of heated debate online: assessment. First, I re-evaluated my purposes for engaging online. Then I assessed the return on my investment of time and energy in certain online spaces against that greater goal. I should say that mine is hardly a perfect science, but after a year of devoting most of my online energies to the creation of posts and the establishment of a personal learning network through Twitter, I’ve decided to change things up a bit. Wiser minds have studied this with far greater depth, and experts have established strategies and challenges and handbooks that provide priceless support to folks like me. Go read them. I did, and their experiences and suggestions have helped me set these priorities for the year:

• First, I plan to continue tweeting less and engaging in conversation elsewhere online a bit more. Don’t get me wrong: Twitter provides me access to countless brilliant minds and an endless stream of tools and resources that people I respect value. I plan to check in and stay connected to my network there each day, and I’ll keep sharing what I learn there as well. BUT I’m finding that commenting on posts, sharing the thinking provoked by those posts here, and engaging in deeper conversation on ning (particularly this one) is richly rewarding as well, and I didn’t devote nearly enough time to that last year.

• Next, I plan to blog more purposefully. In fact, I created a framework for what my next year of blogging might look like. I’ll be exploring fewer topics with greater depth this year, and I’m using evidence captured from three different sources to guide my decision-making around post topics and approaches: a needs assessment of the teachers I support as a literacy coach who visit my blog in search of resources and added support, the stats that suggest which posts are my most popular and which topics are most often searched by readers, and a survey of those who come to this blog seeking specific kinds of information or potential solutions.

• Prioritizing in this way will allow me to post on a regular basis and on a more predictable time-table as well, making this whole venture a bit more manageable. I plan to post on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings this year rather than every single day. This will provide me more time to read and engage in conversation elsewhere online. It will also free up some time for me to pursue a few other writing projects that I’m excited about.

• Finally, I’ll be making some other changes around here as well–moving the WNY Young Writers’ Studio content onto its own site by mid-fall, and posting additional information and resources that might be helpful to my readers on additional pages here.

Assessing my own needs as a learner and defining what my true purposes are for engaging online is helping me shift my practices with greater intention. How do you define your needs and goals as a networked learner? How have your purposes and priorities shifted over time? How has that influenced your practices? I’m interested in any experiences or suggestions that you are willing to share!

I imagine that my entries here may be shorter or further apart as my girls wrap up their school years and come home to me for the summer, but I’m not planning to disappear altogether. Many of the teachers that I work with will begin some education-related summer projects of their own very shortly, which means I’ll be learning a lot myself as I work to support them. I’ll be blogging about these new discoveries and all of the questions they provoke here….so even though school might be out for the summer, I’ll still be here. I hope you will continue to stop by and say hello as well.

Summer Project posts will appear over the next few months, targeting the topics that teachers I work with are most interested in. Please feel free to add your thoughts and links in the comments section if you have something to add! The resources below are for those who plan to begin blogging themselves or with students in the near future:

• Beginning a classroom blog? This post contains valuable resources that might help you and your students get started.
• Uncertain how to craft your own posts? 20 Types of Blog Posts by Darren Rowse can help you decide, and this might be a great piece to share or adapt for kids as well.
• Great blog entry writing has everything to do with blog-reading. Here are a few blogs to consider adding to your feed. They are divided by specialty area and grade level!
• Larry Ferlazzo shares the Best Sources for Advice on Student Blogging right here.
• Mike Sansone provides some great tips for Better Blog Engagement in this post.
• Finally,  Darren Draper’s series on edublogger etiquette is fantastic. Whether you’re new to blogging or you’ve been at it for a while, this thorough exploration of how to engage in the edublogosphere in an intelligent, supportive, and respectful way is a must-read and a must-share.

Still wondering why you might consider blogging with kids? Check out the video below…and share!

A few people that I know are in the process of populating their shiny new RSS feeds this week. I spent some time updating my links toward the bottom of the left sidebar recently, so take a peek at some of my favorite edublogs, and please suggest others that I might want to add! I’m exploring some new reads here. Why not consider encouraging students to create and keep up with their own feeds this summer rather than limiting their “summer reading novels” to those predefined and named within a teacher-created list? Does anyone do this already? Please feel free to share!

Photo Credit

]]> http://www.angelastockman.com/blog/2009/05/06/summer-reading-list/feed/ 2 http://www.angelastockman.com/blog/2008/04/15/walking-the-line-between-parent-and-professional-development-provider/ http://www.angelastockman.com/blog/2008/04/15/walking-the-line-between-parent-and-professional-development-provider/#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:16:11 +0000 Angela http://inservice.wordpress.com/?p=47 Thank you to Andrea Hernandez and her fabulous students for a very special morning. Laura really enjoyed her Skype session and is already hitting me up for a webcam. Fortunately, I am in the midst of purchasing a new laptop, and the model that I have in mind has one built in. I foresee fun days ahead.

Roger’s comment on yesterday’s post makes me smile. It’s always wonderful to receive this sort of feedback from those who are familiar with what Laura is doing, as you can imagine. If I had my way, I would be podcasting what she is doing, photographing everything, and using her blog as an example in every workshop that I lead as a staff developer. I don’t do this typically, though, and while I know that people like Roger probably understand my position on this, I know that others wonder why.

The thing is, I have to remember something: this is Laura’s project, not mine.

I can see potential far beyond what Laura is able to, and I understand the significance of the work that she is doing much better than she is capable of at the ripe old age of 11. I’m also eyeing the pitfalls from a parent’s perspective, and as a result, I find myself walking a very fine line here.

Laura does not always enjoy the attention that she gets from this project as much as some kids might. For instance, when I pulled her out of school for her first television interview she was furious with me. While I was thinking of the tremendous learning experience this might have been for her, she was missing a classroom activity that she was looking forward to, and also? Reporters make her really nervous. Laura has no designs on being the poster child for blogging, and I respect this. So, I let her make her own choices when it comes to media attention of any kind. She usually grants interviews to those who promise to focus on the service aspect of what she is doing and those that promise to call attention to the causes she is supporting.

She’s also been approached by various organizations eager to buy ad space from her, including a variety of nonprofits, and while I can see the potential usefulness of this sort of endeavor, I’m not sure this is something that Laura is capable of managing on her own just yet, and I won’t do it for her. To date, she has written every piece of text on every single page of her blog. She learned how to put the widgets on her page by watching me. She creates her own blogroll, responds to comments (or not, which makes me nuts), uploads her own photos and fights me any time I even suggest a post title. She does allow me to edit her writing when she is done, and this is sometimes an ordeal, because she never wants to revise. But I make her do this because I am unreasonable and mean. I’m also a former English teacher. We’re uptight this way.

I refuse to take Laura’s work away from her or take it over in any way. I prompt her to follow through on things at times, but the need for this is rare. She’s enjoying herself. This is how it should be. Laura loves meeting other kids who are doing similar things on and off line. She enjoys being a part of the larger segment of society that is working to make a difference. Like all kids her age, she simply wants to blend.

Laura also doesn’t want to be seen as a show-off. She’s very sensitive to the potential for this, and as a result, she rarely even talks about her blog outside of our home. She’s really a typical 11 year old girl in a million ways. The only thing that makes her different is the fact that when she asked if she could keep a blog, her mom said yes. Imagine what could happen if more moms were willing to do this.

My daughter Laura is devoting some of her break time to blogging. As some of you know, Laura blogs at Twenty Five Days to Make a Difference. This online service project was inspired by the New York State PTA Reflections contest, which Laura has tried to enter every year. This year’s theme was “I can make a difference”, and Laura chose to address that theme by doing a good deed a day and blogging about it throughout the month of December in memory of her grandfather, who passed away several years ago now.

When Laura said she wanted to blog about this, I was thrilled. When her blog attracted a thousand visitors within the space of twenty four hours? I was not so thrilled, I must admit. I was rather terrified, actually. But! We didn’t take the blog down. Instead, we put a sitemeter up, I began moderating all of her comments, and we began thinking carefully about the sorts of photos we wanted to put up there, if any. Five months and over 26,000 visitors later? We haven’t had a single inappropriate comment or any other problem. In fact, all of Laura’s experiences have been incredibly positive, and her experiences relevant to this project, on and off line, have been invaluable.

I guess you could say that Laura’s blog has changed our lives in some fairly significant ways. Who expected that to happen? Certainly not us.

After the holidays were over, Laura decided that she wanted to focus on a different charity each month. She chose causes that do not get a significant amount of attention, and she decided that her efforts would really be about service rather than fundraising. Still, Laura has already raised over $800 for various local charities. She’s also attended a variety of events, headed up a pajama and book drive, and provided other services to these organizations as well.

When she asked if she could spend all year supporting these groups? My heart began to race. I envisioned complete madness and insane schedules. It hasn’t been that way at all, though. The net makes it easier to do the work, to spread the word, and to find support from other like-minded folks. Laura’s favorite part about blogging is the way that it connects her to people she has grown to adore. I think of people like Sylvia Nadler and Michelle Moore at Compass House, who make her feel welcome and needed. I also think of Roger Carr and Beth Kanter, who encourage her tiny efforts, include her in their growing online network, and who serve as tremendous examples for her as well. I also think of my sister in law, who asked Laura to speak to her Confirmation class early this year. It was inspiring to watch this group of kids begin to understand exactly how the internet can be used to serve others.

Tomorrow, Laura will be taking part in her very first Skype session with students from Florida. Andrea Hernandez has encouraged her students to make a difference as well, and Laura is beyond thrilled to have connected to all of the kids from 17 Chances to Help. As her mom, I’m really excited to see her connecting with other kids in valuable ways. As an educator who works to promote the use of technology in classrooms, it has been beyond eye-opening for me to see how children can use the web to promote important values and create a network around good things.

Laura is teetering on the edge of adolesence. She’s already texting her friends and obsessed with instant messenger. I know that she might eventually do some things online that will have her dad and I less than pleased. Just last week, she walked to school without permission, blatantly disobeying us in a big way for the very first time. The fun has already begun, and I’m not looking forward to losing my eager-to-please first-born to the turbulence of teenage angst. But for now, I’m taking comfort in the fact that her first exposure to the net was for all of the right reasons, and I’m hoping that this frame of reference will continue to be one that she works from.

I have learned so much.