Several years ago, I built a one-hour workshop entitled "Your Own Blog in 10 Minutes of Less." Since then, I have presented the workshop in both a demonstration and hands-on format and used both live a live Internet connection and PowerPoint screen shots.
That workshop has inspired the creation of quite a few blogs. Every single school in my former school system has created a blog. Two central office blogs kept parents and employees informed about what was happening in their school system.
To supplement that workshop, I have constructed a blog to serve as a demonstration for some of the tools and techniques that one might want to learn as they construct their own blogs. The blog consists of just under two dozen posts. Each is a real post taken from a real blog. Accompanying each is an explanation of why that post is significant or what it teaches.
The plan is not to continuously update this blog. It is now in its "final form." To take a look at this blog, go to:
Showing posts with label Sample blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sample blogs. Show all posts
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Thursday, May 29, 2008
And Then There Was the Blog
The Friday Memo did its job well for 8 years. It was good, but in the back of mind was something better.
I had been maintaining the blog you are reading now for about a year. The simplicity was appealing. I could compose it from anywhere. People could read it from anywhere. It required no paper, no ink, no toner. It was self-saving. Where to "file" the information was a non-issue. It was already filed in cyberspace, and the click of a mouse could take you to any post from the oldest to the newest.
When school began in the fall of 2005, the Friday Memo had been replaced with a blog dedicated the faculty and staff at our school. That initial post is here.
Posts appeared weekly throughout the school year. I tried very hard to maintain the same concept as I had with the Friday Memo. There would be one post which would contain all of the information people would need to know for the next week. Checking the blog just once a week was enough.
At the end of that school year, I moved on to a position at the central office. The blog was not something that was maintained after I left. It does remain as a sample of how a principal can communicate with faculty and staff in a paperless manner.
Furthermore, the blog offers a huge advantage over e-mail. I find few people who have mature systems for managing the information they receive via e-mail. This blog provides a medium that is focus and is maintained in a single place. Information from a week ago, a month ago, or a year ago is retrievable from any computer.
In a world where far too much is far too complex, the blog is something easy enough that I will actually maintain it.
I had been maintaining the blog you are reading now for about a year. The simplicity was appealing. I could compose it from anywhere. People could read it from anywhere. It required no paper, no ink, no toner. It was self-saving. Where to "file" the information was a non-issue. It was already filed in cyberspace, and the click of a mouse could take you to any post from the oldest to the newest.
When school began in the fall of 2005, the Friday Memo had been replaced with a blog dedicated the faculty and staff at our school. That initial post is here.
Posts appeared weekly throughout the school year. I tried very hard to maintain the same concept as I had with the Friday Memo. There would be one post which would contain all of the information people would need to know for the next week. Checking the blog just once a week was enough.
At the end of that school year, I moved on to a position at the central office. The blog was not something that was maintained after I left. It does remain as a sample of how a principal can communicate with faculty and staff in a paperless manner.
Furthermore, the blog offers a huge advantage over e-mail. I find few people who have mature systems for managing the information they receive via e-mail. This blog provides a medium that is focus and is maintained in a single place. Information from a week ago, a month ago, or a year ago is retrievable from any computer.
In a world where far too much is far too complex, the blog is something easy enough that I will actually maintain it.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Sample School Blogs, Current School System Blog
During my last final year as a principal, I discovered blogging to be an effective and terrifically easy way to keep both staff and parents informed. As the opening of school approached, I created two blogs. The audience for one consisted of my staff. The intended audience consisted of parents.
Neither of the blogs has been maintained since my departure. I do think they are valuable in that they can serve as models for other principals who may want to use this means of communication. These two models can be found at:
http://grahamstaff.blogspot.com/ Blog for employees
http://grahamschool.blogspot.com/ Blog for parents and community
When I move from the principalship to the central office, I began to miss my blogs immediately, How would I communicate with teachers in the various schools? How could we publicize the good works of schools? Immediately, blogs seemed to be the answer. Following the model established at Graham, we established two blogs at the central office. One of the blogs has as its audience out employees. The other has as its audience parents and community members. Both are alive and well a year and a half later:
http://teachtalladega.blogspot.com/
http://talladegacityschools.blogspot.com/
Our intent at the outset was that these two blogs would be a place where designated people from each school could post information pertaining to their school. The result would be one single place where news from all schools would appear. From the very beginning, I had the total support of our School Improvement Specialist, Pattie Thomas. Pattie is the best co-worker a person could hope for. Our vision of people from all school contributing has not worked out near to the extent we would like, so she and I shoulder the majority of the load.
The frontier we blazed at Graham did cause two other principals to create blogs of their own. Several teachers have also created their own.
Feel free to peruse the blogs mentioned here as you gain your own ideas. Happy blogging!
Neither of the blogs has been maintained since my departure. I do think they are valuable in that they can serve as models for other principals who may want to use this means of communication. These two models can be found at:
http://grahamstaff.blogspot.com/ Blog for employees
http://grahamschool.blogspot.com/ Blog for parents and community
When I move from the principalship to the central office, I began to miss my blogs immediately, How would I communicate with teachers in the various schools? How could we publicize the good works of schools? Immediately, blogs seemed to be the answer. Following the model established at Graham, we established two blogs at the central office. One of the blogs has as its audience out employees. The other has as its audience parents and community members. Both are alive and well a year and a half later:
http://teachtalladega.blogspot.com/
http://talladegacityschools.blogspot.com/
Our intent at the outset was that these two blogs would be a place where designated people from each school could post information pertaining to their school. The result would be one single place where news from all schools would appear. From the very beginning, I had the total support of our School Improvement Specialist, Pattie Thomas. Pattie is the best co-worker a person could hope for. Our vision of people from all school contributing has not worked out near to the extent we would like, so she and I shoulder the majority of the load.
The frontier we blazed at Graham did cause two other principals to create blogs of their own. Several teachers have also created their own.
Feel free to peruse the blogs mentioned here as you gain your own ideas. Happy blogging!
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