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Professional development activities that have proven effective will be included in Develop Your Staff. Your contributions are welcome. Send them to principal@osu.edu. Please indicate if we may use your name in the “contributor” credits.
Blogs in Our Future?
“There are probably only a few hundred school administrators [with blogs], but it’s only a matter of time before it explodes, like it has in every other part of the edublog community.” Mr. Farmer, Melbourne, Australia (reported in Education Week, May 2, 2007)
What is a blog? Blog is a short form of “web log,” an online diary that allows readers to leave comments in an interactive format. See Wikipedia for an extended definition.
Recently, Scott McLeod of the University of Minnesota made a bold challenge to school principals. He set out with the goal of recruiting 100 principals to create their own blogs in 100 days. His real purpose was to persuade them to use the blog as a communication tool to reach parents, teachers, and students more effectively. For more details, go to www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org.
If you are looking for a place to begin, NAESP will create its own blog service this fall to help school principals set up and share their blogs (www.naesp.org). In their article, “Principal Blogs,” Steve Poling and Jan Borrelli recommend that if you are creating your own blog, do so using your own name (to build trust), keep in mind that anyone can access it and read the entries (including your boss), and know that whatever you post in your entries will be seen as a reflection of you. For a starter, check out Jan’s and Steve’s blogs: http://drjansblog.blogspot.com/ and http://mr-ps-blog.blogspot.com/)
For a further definition of what a blog can do, what makes for a great blog, and how to get started, visit www.principalspartnership.com. Jim Forde, the webmaster, offers an extended list of blogs that serve different purposes. He suggests using www.blogger.com as a free and easy way to create your account, name your blog, and choose a template site. If you simply want to be updated on postings to any number of blogs of interest, try another free website, www.Bloglines.com.
This short list proves that you can combine professional endeavors with personal hobbies and interests to make the most of your summer.
