Admin: Share Your Blog!

Anything I can do to offer the student community, the faculty community, or the parent community a venue for communication, I want to do it!

How much time do administrators spend maintaining their blogs?

I just lost out on a principal-ship, in my own school, that i was really hopeful about. One of the things i have said we needed was better communication with our community (ie blog) I was going to start one... I still think its a great idea and now figure i will start one on my own and get the word out.

Thanks for your comments they put my thinking back on track and my actions back in my control.

Greetings,

I am an editor for Funderstanding.com, a site that aims to provide thoughtful educators and parents with tools to engage students in deep learning.

This is my first post here, and I am only a few months into my blogging experiences. Feel free to look and offer suggestions.

http://ycstmantran.blogspot.com/

I have started blogging in April and have really learned a lot from educators around the world (including Eric) as well as being able to open communication with my community. Here is my own professional blog that I use for reflection:
http://georgecouros.ca/blog/

Hello Eric,

I have recently started the 30 Goals Challange (#30Goals) by Shelly Terrell. The first goal was to write a blog, which I did a little over a week ago. I understand the importance of using blogging to share news about my school (large, 2300 student suburban high school with a diverse student population and successful), my thoughts and ideas about edcuational change, policies, etc.

I get stuck on what to share and not to share, but by reading your blogs and a couple of other administrators, I'm gaining confidence in blogging. A part of my hesitation is simply adding one more thing on my plate to manage. Social Media channels are so vitally important and once I start blogging, I must keep it up in order to make it meaningjul, informative, and engaging. Nevertheless, following is the link the my blog:
http://dwightcarter.edublogs.org/

Be Great,

Dwight

Blogging is an enormously important part of my identity as a Head of School (private-independent, 6th to 12th grade). It is so important for me as a vehicle to communicate my goals and explain my decisions, to inform and educate my faculty, and to process my thinking and demonstrate my own ongoing learning as an educator. I like to think that one of the roles of CEO is as Chief Learning Officer-- that I am at my school the chief learner-- and I think my blog is a marvelous vehicle for that.

It is also so valuable as a way just to share. Like many principals, I regularly give speeches to students, faculties, and boards which I wish other audiences could have the opportunity to hear or read: now they can, by my posting on my blog.

Cannot recommend it highly enough!

I blog at www.21k12blog.net, and tweet at @JonathanEMartin

Jonathan Martin

About time per week for my blogging: during the school year, I definitely aim to post 2-3 times a week, but I also try not to guilt trip myself too heavily if I fall behind.

Individual posts vary widely in time they take-- sometimes 30 minutes, sometimes an hour or two. But I also, once or twice a week, will post something that I have already written for another purpose: I will re-purpose it as a blog post. That doesn't take any time, really, but it rounds out my blog.

I blog when I am inspired by something. Whether it is a school event, a book I am reading, or something on another blog, I find blogging is easy when I find the motivation. If the blogs come fast and furious, save them for when you have blog block. Post just once or twice a week, if they are timely, they will have the effect you want.

Dave Meister
http://phsprincipal.blogspot.com