So, it has been quite a long time since I have posted anything here. In that time I have started a new job as an ITF at Holly Grove Elementary School in Wake County. I absolutely love my job but things are crazy busy and I’m afraid my blog has taken a back seat. I have so many wonderful things to share and I promise myself I will begin to take the time to write them all down. Until then, I did want to take a moment to share a guest blog post I did for VoiceThread about Global Connections. Please take a moment to read the post here.
I Have Been Remiss
June 30, 2016
Technology Adventures! 
Comments on: "I Have Been Remiss" (2)
Hey Jennifer,
First, super jazzed that you added your blog to the #wonderwake spreadsheet! I wouldn’t have found you otherwise.
Second, a challenge: You wrote, “I absolutely love my job but things are crazy busy and I’m afraid my blog has taken a back seat.”
What if you replaced the words “my blog” with “reflection”?
Your sentence would sound like this, “I absolutely love my job but things are crazy busy and I’m afraid reflection has taken a back seat.”
That would feel different, wouldn’t it?
When we think of these spaces where we write publicly as “blogs,” they become easy to push aside when we feel like we don’t have the time. We figure that it’s nice to share our ideas with others, but if we are busy, those other people are just going to have to wait.
But when we think of these spaces where we write publicly as “reflection,” they are a lot harder to push aside. After all, reflection is about US — not about some nebulous external audience that we may and/or may not be influencing.
That simple linguistic shift has changed everything for me. I find time to write — and to read the writing of others — every week because it is reflection, not blogging. It’s about polishing what I know and growing my own understanding. The result: I never skip it.
In fact, I’d go as far as arguing that the ITFs in WCPSS should quit talking about the role of audience completely when they pitch blogging to either teachers or students. The truth is that the majority of bloggers will never have a large enough audience to really be all that motivating. But if we convince people that blogging is about reflection — thinking about our thinking — new motivators can be just as important.
Any of this make sense?
Bill
It makes perfect sense and it is absolutely wonderful. I do really think of it as a reflection I just don’t know what’s happened to me the past few years that I have been so remiss in taking part in it. I enjoy sharing both my successes and my failures and when I do it I get a great feeling of satisfaction.