Being Yourself for the Betterment of Your Blog
Posted on January 16, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized and tagged 31 day challenge, blogging
As part of my online identity crisis I have spent a bit of time lately (well, not over the past three days when the wiggly monster child was visiting) looking at my blogs, particularly technoLOTE and thinking about exactly what I want to use them for. I’ve also been in contact with Kate Olson who is a newbie blogger too. It’s great to have a partner in crime! I started chatting to Kate through Twitter and now we are going to work together on the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog challenge. I’ve been getting a lot of advice and help over the past week or so from Sue Waters. Her advice on being a more effective blogger has been great and she has been so supportive and willing to help. A huge thank you to Sue! I’ve also joined the Building a Better Blog ning network which I can already tell is an amazing resource of bloggers and blogging advice.
I’m really enjoying blogging and being part of the edublogging community. I love the potential blogging has in the classroom. Using blogs as a learning logs for students is one way I’m going to use it this year. Getting students to reflect on their learning (not just in my class) and them hopefully they will get comments and interaction from people all over the world who can help them out. That has been the most amazing thing for me. I ‘tweeted’ (sent a message in Twitter the other night asking for feedback on the blog theme I have at technoLOTE and then ended up in a gTalk conversation with @johnjohnston and later @kolson29 about blog themes and designs and both were more than willing to help. I was rapt about that and I hope I can bring some of the into my classroom for my students.
I’ve also been successful lately with getting more comments on my blog posts. I realised that, at techoLOTE anyway, I was probably writing a bit too formally, with too much instruction and not enough of myself. I wrote a couple of more personal posts and got some great comments back. I’ve learned that blogging is about putting yourself out there. There is no need to be an authority on things. People are more likely to comment, interact with and build conversation on and community around your blog if there is plenty of ‘you in it. So, that’s what I’m aiming more for now.
Anyway, Kate, Sarah and a few others have already started the 31 day challenge so I better get a wriggle on.
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Jess -
Great post! I completely agree with putting yourself out there, and your blog name perfectly reflects that. I’ve been struggling the past few days about what I want my blog to be “about” and I came to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter - I’m writing it for me. People will choose to comment if something I write hits them the right (or wrong) way, but blogging for me is a place to reflect and ponder………not pander to the masses
Hmmmm, don’t think I really have to worry much about masses reading my blog, though! Anyway, looking forward to the journey with you……..
Kate Olson
http://googtweetblog.edublogs.org
@kolson29
Hi Jess, how’s the challenge going? I am about to go on a weeks holiday so I’ll have to do some catching up when I get back. Good luck. Sarah
Hi Jess–You’re already off to a great start with this, especially having Sue as a mentor!
Glad you found Building a Better Blog helpful. One of our members, Christine Martell, started a forum for you guys so that those of us who went through the ringer in August can share advice and give you support. It’s great fun, but can get exhausting! You’ll learn a ton, though, I promise.