I blame George Couros.

An interesting tweet came across my Twitter feed last year, and I followed him.  That original tweet was quickly followed by other thought-provoking ideas tweeted and blogged by George, and pretty soon I felt compelled to read his book.  So much of what George wrote aligned with my beliefs about education, and the book provided a good pep talk going into September.

I toyed with the idea of starting a teacher blog and reflecting publicly, and it terrified me!  There is no part of my personality that seeks public attention.  A very select circle of close colleagues ever hear my personal reflections and beliefs about education.

But George, and the brilliant people he re-tweets, wore me down.  I kept reading that blogging is great, cheap professional development (I love professional development!  I love cheap!), and that the process of professional reflection in a blog can only strengthen classroom practice.  Teaching in a small, rural school, I don’t have the luxury of grade-alike colleagues in the same building.  Developing a professional learning network through blogging is an attractive and straight forward method of sharing with colleagues in similar positions.

That brings me to today.  I’ve decided to take the leap and join the “30 Days of Blogging” challenge, initiated by A. J. Juliani.  In the next 30 days, I commit to writing 250 words a day, and posting once a week.

And so my personal blogging journey begins.  But the blogging won’t be limited to me.  I met Alec Couros at a presentation he gave in our school division in the fall.  Guess what I’m doing after I post this first blog entry?  Setting up student blogs, based on his emphasis of digital literacy for students.

I wonder if Mrs. Couros knows how persuasive her boys are?