…and finding my groove (or trying to).
I like the idea of my blog evolving into a daily haiku+ by which I mean that I hope to make the time to compose and post at least one haiku each day, and (+) add more reflective posts.
My plan of the moment is to add the haiku to each day’s post and to copy it to the haiku page I’ve added here to my blog. This plan may change as/if I do continue and discover that this idea no longer feels right.
Today’s haiku (composed whilst still in bed this morning)
birdsong fills the eye
morning’s visual caffeine
unbidden alarm
~ ~ ~
For today’s post, I’ve been reflecting on how excited I am to have begun learning WordPress (finally!) and to be working (again) toward refining, defining what I want my blog presence here to be.
Having worked for over three years now on EnglishCafe.com, and having posted 419 blog posts there [http://www.englishcafe.com/blog/Smiling7], blogging is not exactly new.
When I taught abroad (Korea, 2004-2005), I created my first blogs, inspired by an EVO (Electronic Village Online) workshop, and used Tabulas to experiment with. On a whim, I just googled and found that some of those links still exist (I stopped paying for my Tabulas account several years ago, and didn’t think the links would stay active:
http://jonquil.tabulas.com/2004/04/19/@235620/
http://blogblossoms.tabulas.com/2004/04/19/@235607/
What fun to revisit them! 🙂
But the dedication to blogging consistently (as in daily) has escaped me.
I have a personal goal of maintaining this newly-revived WordPress blog for at least one year, and am more enthused than many of you might ever understand about the idea of actually composing 365+ daily haiku! (I believe haiku to be a noncount noun, but haiku or haikus seem to be accepted as a correct spelling by many).
“An eclectic with tangential tendencies” is a phrase I often use to describe myself. Compassionate, passionate, in many directions!
A challenge I will definitely have, a challenge I hope to conquer, is how to effectively house all of my tangential tendencies in one WordPress blog. I hope that as I make gains on meeting this challenge I will acquire a following of readers (both lurkers for the mystery they contribute, and frequent commenters for the motivation and food for thought they provide).
RSS feeds are something I still have only basic familiarity with. I have created a PageFlakes page, have added many feeds there and have some others that come through GoogleReader. However, I’ve not yet mastered the daily drill of looking at the feeds!
I’ve been following and reading several listservs (ed.gov) Chris Brogan, Larry Ferlazzo, and ASCD SmartBriefs — by email posts — for some time now. As a fan of Twitter, I try to find time (but do not always succeed) to visit, scan, explore links shared there. A select few Twitter folks are set to have their tweets texted to my cell phone (one of my favorites = CarlaArena).
Keeping up with EnglishCafe.com, email, blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and more on a daily basis is daunting! And pushes me to the brink of needing ‘digital detoxification‘ more often! And yet I love it!
But I do not love how ‘it’ keeps me from enjoying the outdoors more than I used to. These are common laments, certainly not unique to me. I find it somewhat laughable that one way to find balance might be to maintain this blog!
In an earlier post, I mentioned Shelly Terrell’s 30 Day Challenge. As I reread my posts and revisited links, I realize that I am beginning with her 2010 list
http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/2010/02/01/goal-pass-the-baton/
and sort of combining it with her 2011 list
http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/30-goals-2011/
Motivational nudges abound from awe-inspiring educators around the world!
There are many, many others who inspire me whom I hope to mention in future posts.
Now I need to return to my fulfill some duties as co-moderator of the EVO_Drama_2012
*link to info about this year’s upcoming EVOs:
many things "Holly" 