Like hundreds of other eager teachers out there, I have finally taken the leap and created my own blog in order to pursue my own professional development. In any new setting (including this one) I am always the quiet one at the back of the room taking everything in for awhile until I feel comfortable enough to take part. Creating a personal blog that is public is intimidating, but I now realize that moving out of my comfort zone is valuable, and that being part of a network of likeminded individuals is even more valuable. In addition this space seems like a good place to amalgamate all my lists and notes and reflections and clippings I am constantly creating that often become buried in the bottom of a drawer somewhere. It's like telling everyone you are going on a diet, you are more likely to stick to that diet if everyone knows about it and can offer help or suggestions for their fantastic recipe for sugarless chocolate chip cookies. But I digress...and now I'm hungry.

So...to summarize:

My primary audience is going to be myself but I'm looking forward to meeting new people and getting new perspectives.

This will be a place to process and develop. Period. Just like my lists and clippings, my posts may be somewhat disjointed and not always polished.

My more tangible goals for this year are:
to start a class wiki
create an effective, safe "student lounge" online
create an online writing workshop environment to use next school year(If anyone has any great examples, I'd love to hear from you!)
to incorporate more oral language activities in an asychronous online classroom environment for grades 8-11