An End to Procratination

I have been thinking about starting this blog for well over a year now and always seem to find distractions or reasons for inaction. So I thought I's start this first post by reviewing why it is I want to write a blog in the first place.

Without a doubt the single greatest inspiration for writing a blog has been Tom Barrett, in particular this post http://edte.ch/blog/2008/08/23/10-google-forms-for-the-classroom/ . One of those light bulb moments. I'd come across google forms and thought that they would be good for replacing the questionnaires that students have to print out and get filled in by hand. This post made me think about the wider application of the web 2.0 tools I had started to come across. By the time I'd read the back catalogue of Tom's posts my head was buzzing. Set me off on a course that has seen me get ever more deeply involved in incorporating web 2.0 technologies into my teaching practice and sharing best practice with other teachers in my school. I am now involved in delivering e-learning training and am going through the AST application process.

Blog posts such as this one http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/8-ways-blogging-makes-me-a-better-teacher/ made me want to start to contribute to the blogosphere rather than just lurk and take ideas without contributing but a blank page was just too big to fill.

So I made a start with Twitter. 140 characters - I can manage that surely. Had to steel myself for that first post but nothing terrible happened as a result. Again other people's blogs provided me with help and encouragement. Another post by Tom Barrett http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2009/01/21/5-things-to-get-your-twitter-network-off-the-ground/ and this one by Kapil Bhatia, http://www.kapilbhatia.com/2009/03/07/how-to-become-twitter-teachertt-in-23-steps-or-less/ helped me to get started.

Through Twitter I came across more and more blogs and my RSS reader began to fall into disuse. Good blogs were recommended to me and I could spot when favourite blogs had been updated. Soon I really needed the advice from Dean Shareski in this blog post http://ideasandthoughts.org/2008/04/03/go-ahead-mark-this-as-readyou-miss-it/ . Information is a river not a reservoir - you don't need to consume it all. If it's a good idea it will come past again.

As it did in this post http://onceuponateacher.blogspot.com/2008/02/im-on-path-come-join-me.html which I read long after it was originally posted by Melanie Holtsman. It helped me to see that I am working my way through a process and that I can't start the revolution in one big bang. I'm currently up to step 7 I think.

So thank you to all those people whose blogs I have read and been inspired by. Procrastination over - I've dipped my toe in the water. Watch this space.