Decisions… February 4, 2008
Posted by Lance in Behaviour, Starting Out, blogging, learning.add a comment
I spoke earlier about not being sure what my “voice” was on this blog. I think I have come to a decision: I’m letting go of all the pretence and seriousness. I enjoyed the initial writing of this when I wasn’t trying to prove anything. Instead I am going to try and find that light-hearted tone and just see where this takes me. I was a lot happier with the results in the early stages (and a lot more productive too), and I am no expert, so why try to be?
This is not to say that I am going to try and make this into a comic blog (I know I’m not that funny), I’m just not going to take it all so seriously. I want to have some fun. Besides, I figure that this still fits the sub-title of this blog; “tentatve steps into web 2.0 and social networking”. I’m still finding my way and I’m still experimenting.
…if life seems jolly rotten
there’s something you’ve forgotten
and that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing”
Month Python’s “Bright Side of Life”
Small Hiccup … January 4, 2008
Posted by Lance in Behaviour, Starting Out, blogging.add a comment
As the song says, “You’re gonna to trip stumble and fall” After deleting the previous post (Online Tools vol 2) and rewritting it, and recreating the graphic in it, I have discovered that I really don’t know how to use the mentioned tool.
So, having some time on my hands and an overly developed stubborn streak I decided to keep trying. I know that it can work, as the post I originally saw it on had a working graphic, and the ones created by me worked in the kwout website. I think part of the problem lies in the fact that the edublogs site seems to be stripping the embed code out when I post (once again, probably something that I am doing).
After getting nowhere with this I did the next most obvious thing: I visited the kwout website and help blog … and found no help in the existing questions. I’m still waiting on a reply to my question to them, so we will see how it turns out.
Anyway, to the point (yes, I do have one, and I will get to it, albeit in a long winded and rambling manner). I have learned a valuable lesson here. I got a little excited by the potential of the kwout system (tool? toy? call it what you will) because I saw some potential in its use. What I should have done is to make sure that I knew what I was doing with it before I opened my mouth. (Not bad for someone who a couple of posts back was bemoaning the fact that he overthinks things and never just acts. Either I’m getting better at this or I don’t know myself as well as I thought).
So, it has been in my mind to take down the previous post until I figure out where I went wrong, but then I decided I should leave it up. I need the reminder that I need to do my homework before I post anything - I don’t need to be an expert, but a passing understanding would possibly be of benefit.
Looks like 2008 is off to a flying start, which reminds me: Happy New Year to you all.
Problems Dilemmas and Dichotomies November 30, 2007
Posted by Lance in Behaviour, Starting Out, blogging.add a comment
Last week I posted that I was having problems coming to terms with my apparent (OK, let’s be honest here: complete) lack of activity when it came to blogging.
Jeanette (of From the Principal’s Desk) left the comment that:
It doesn’t surprise me that you’ve struggled with your perspective on blogging, as I suspect any thoughtful blogger likely has done so. It’s a tool, and like any tool, there are times blogging will be useful, and times it won’t.
I started to reply to this, but after my reply started to ramble a bit, I thought to myself, “here’s your opportunity – this is where posts come from!” (I know – slow off the mark, but I am getting there). So please indulge me here while I divert from my original plan of looking at e-tools. After all, isn’t that the benefit of blogging? It’s dynamic.
Anyway, I think I have figured out what my problem was/is. I don’t know what I want my ‘voice” to be. When I started, it was just an experiment - I was playing, so the tone was very light. As I started to take the process a little more seriously, the tone subtly changed. I’ve been looking over the vast list that is my previous posts and I can see the change.
So, as I see it, I now have two key decisions to make: what is that I want to say, and how do I want to say it?
The first question is easy: I have no idea, but the ideas will come, of this I have no doubt, but the second is the difficult one. I can tend to be a fairly serious person by nature, with a natural propensity to over think just about everything, but I also try not to take it all too seriously. After all, as the man said, “no-one gets out alive”.
Perhaps the best option is to just write and see how it turns out?
After all, it’s just possible that I’m just over thinking all this. May have to ponder that one for a while.
2 Months and Counting November 21, 2007
Posted by Lance in Starting Out, blogging, tools.5 comments
I’ve been sitting here for the last two weeks thinking that I really should write something here: 6 post in 7 weeks. Hardly what I would call a committed attempted at getting involved in the whole blogging process, especially when you consider that all 6 posts were written in the first 4 weeks. Now math ain’t my strong point (and after that phrase, apparently neither is English), but that means that I haven’t touched this in nearly three weeks.
I know that commitment and tenacity are required to get into the flow of things, but the simple reality is that I had nothing to say. Now don’t get lulled into a false sense of security here: that point is not intended to imply that I now have something to say. If that’s the way you read it, then as Wesley said to Indigo, “Get used to disappointment”. (Sorry, we watched The Princess Bride with my niece over the weekend).
I have been torn (resisting the temptation to hum; annoying tune stuck in head now! Not happy!) as to whether I should write something for the sake of making a post, or I should hold true to my belief that if you have nothing to say, stay silent.
What’s that? Do I hear someone yelling “Sell Out!”? Well actually, no. This post is not just for the sake of posting. It is for the sake of posting as well, but not just for the sake. Think of it more as an introduction.
An introduction to what? More pointless and senseless rambling? Well actually, more than likely, yes (why stop now?).
Over the last few months I have had the opportunity to look at any number of new tools (new to me anyway – apparently some of them have been around for quite a while) and I have had the “kid in a candy shop” sparkle in my eyes: so many to choose from.
I have been looking at things with an aim to incorporating into our training packages, and the time has come. Its time to choose (or at least start thinking seriously about it). So I’m thinking that I will use this forum as a space to ponder out loud how I am going to do this: hence the introduction point (I know, it took a while, but at least I got there).
So strap yourselves in kiddies, we’re in for a wild ride!! Or possibly a quiet meandering stroll? It could go either way, but the smart money is on the latter.
Advice for New Bloggers November 2, 2007
Posted by Lance in Starting Out, blogging.1 comment so far
No, I am not trying to be ironic with that title, and yes, I do see the incongruity in someone who has done this for only a month giving advice, but here’s the thing: who better than someone for whom the whole experience is so new that they still experiencing the full gamut of emotions?
Actually, I was reading Michele Martin’s The Bamboo Project blog last night and she asked the following question:
What Advice Would You Have For a New Blogger?
The essence of which was the following questions:
I’d like to hear your advice for new bloggers.
- What tips do you have for getting into blogging?
- What should new bloggers be doing to get the most out of the experience?
- What challenges did you face as a new blogger and what did you do to overcome them?
- What thoughts do you have on the best ways to ease into blogging?
Read the whole post here
The following is my reply to her, with some edits
What tips do you have for getting into blogging?
I’m in two minds here; it’s either don’t, unless you have something to say, or jump in the deep end and see where it takes you. I think I’m leaning to the “don’t” theory. My reasoning here is that unless you feel that there is some value in what you write, that will generally show through. (”What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.” Samuel Johnson). Additionally without some purpose, disillusionment will not be far behind. I jumped in, thinking it was something that I should try. Thankfully, I had some very supportive people to help me. My initial posts were written on blog within the eTools and Tips for Educators community which brings together some very skilled people; people who are willing to try new things, and offer assistance to those who are trying.
What should new bloggers be doing to get the most out of the experience?
When I figure that one out, I’ll let you know - I’m kind of new to this myself.
What challenges did you face as a new blogger and what did you do to overcome them?
- Content. I have problems coming to terms with the fact that what I am thinking/writing will be of interest to others. The reality is that sometimes it won’t be - deal with it. But at other times, you will hit on a topic that, for one reason or another, will generate interest.
- Length. I have had to restrain myself at times to prevent rambling for too long. I was given some good advice by Sue Waters - break it up into a number of posts (sorry Sue - I know this has gone way over).
What thoughts do you have on the best ways to ease into blogging?
- Be realistic - you are not going to have a huge reader base when you start. Tenacity is required. Keep at it and ensure that you are writing for yourself, but write as if the world were reading it.
- Be honest – if you don’t subscribe to a point of view, don’t write it. Don’t set yourself up as an expert (unless, of course, you are).
In all honesty, this could go on for pages, but I think in comes down to 3 simple points:
- believe what you write - it will show
- write for yourself, but in a manner fit for a world audience
- don’t write for the sake of writing, have a point or agenda
Round 2 (from 3rd Oct 2007) October 20, 2007
Posted by Lance in Starting Out.add a comment
Well, here I am again, less than 24 hours later. Who would have guessed?
Actually, this was going to be part of a reply to a comment that Sue left on my first post, but after it started to get a bit long I thought to myself, “What I really need is a way to expand on all of these thoughts that are running through my head. Something that would allow me to express what I am thinking in an introspective, yet public manner.” But where was I to find such a forum?
Yes, you’ve probably guessed where I’m heading with this, but hey! Run with me here people. I’m discovering a new medium (don’t remind me that I’m any number of years behind your average 14 year old).
Anyway, enough of the silliness and to the point. In a reply to my first post, Sue made the comment “It was only when I started blogging in April this year I realised why I should blog”. This has got me thinking/wondering. How many opportunities have we missed just because we dismissed something as being irrelevant or unnecessary? As discussed yesterday, I know I am guilty of this.
In the immortal words of Pepe Le Pew,
“until you have tried it, do not knock it”. It’s easy to stand on the outside and pick holes in something, but for a truly valid opinion you need to have at least peeked inside. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I’m a convert, but at least I am exploring.
After all … what’s the worst that could happen?
Pride and Prejudice (from 2nd Oct 2007) October 20, 2007
Posted by Lance in Starting Out.add a comment
So, here I am. Writing a Blog entry.
I hear deep breathing and an ominous, gasping voice whispering to me, “Welcome to the Dark Side”.
I have never written a blog and have spent very little time even looking at them. To my mind I couldn’t disassociate blogs from the concept of adolescent diaries, full of teenage angst ranting against the unfairness of it all… “Its, like, you know, like, so totally unfair” or those ranting and raving against the system; hollow revolutionaries whose only defence against “the system” is to quote, with predictable pseudo-intellectual fervour, the words of greater minds who have gone before.
OK, so I’m exaggerating a little here, and being quite unfair – I am aware of this, but until recently I could see no real practical educational use for this process. The reality was that I viewed blogs as online diaries, and I have never fancied the concept of reading other people’s diaries (let’s be honest – for the most part they’re a case of “Dear Diary today I did this and then I did that. … blah blah blah … snore). What little I had seen of blogs previously pretty much confirmed my view.
The I began looking over some of the blogs available through here and edna, I have come to lessen my stance somewhat – only somewhat mind you (pride does dictate). Some of what I have delved into has confirmed my former suspicions. And some opened a new world of potential; perhaps there is something to this blogging thing after all. The mind has been ticking over as to how we can incorporate these into some of our training practices and there are some very distinct possibilities.
I can admit when I am wrong: one prejudice overcome. Who knows, maybe there may even be a follow-up post to this one. And if we are really lucky, it may even have some substance, rather that being just a rant.
Life is just sooo unfair!
