Ouch... Finding time to blog

Well, I obviously haven't yet found time to blog on a regular basis.  Which is a shame, and I think I am going to have to set aside time each week to reflect and blog if I want this to work.  It's a bit like my running - if I have no race to aim for I struggle to get the motivation to go outside.

My aim for the next week is to work out the 'race' for this blog - how am I going to keep myself motivated to write it and how am I going to make it influence how I teach and what I teach.    However, looking back over the past year there have been some successes that I can remember!

• The use of facebook with my Post-16 students.  They really seemed to like having their own group and being able to see that I was willing to answer questions etc not just in lessons but also at teh weekend  They also liked the more personal side they could see and made the relationships in the class a lot stronger.  Posting test results / coursework grades up (or letting students know where to find them) encouraged them to check the VLE regularly as well.
• VLE's  I know a bit old hat but the year just gone was the first proper year that our school has used one.  I love paperless marking.  ANd the interactivity they give you.  I don't love it when halfway through a great lesson the server crashes!
• Twitter - I started this year really using twitter a lot to get ideas and as a resource.  A bit like this blog though time got the better of me and it was one of the things that I dropped.  Again, I think that has to change and I am re-discovering the joys of twitter again.

My aims for this year are to really get the blogging bit sorted.  Both me and with kids.  We are also teaching GCSE Computing for the first time so looking forward to re-discovering my programming skills (or lack of them!)  

So, we'll see if this is really a new dawn or not...

Blogging with a class

Next week, as one of my new PM targets, I am going to begin blogging with 2 classes which I teach - my Y12 A level group and a Y9 class who are doing OCR Nationals.  Now, I have never done this before so am looking forward to it but also feeling a little nervous as to what will happen (the first job I have to do is to get the IT guys to unblock the blogging website!) 

I am hoping that the students enjoy the experience, that they begin to develop their reflective skills - this to me is the key one, and that also they can create a blog which they can look back on to help them revise, remember and generally keep up with what they are doing in ICT.

If anyone has any useful links to blogs by students at the moment that I can share with my students I would be grateful - I think to show them some examples before they start could be a good thing.  I will also post the links to some of their blogs so that they are shared amonst others as well - I think that leaving comments and recieving comments is a key part of blogging.

We'll see what happens, and i'll keep people updated on this blog as well.