Are You Ready for a Challenge?

Are you a steady blogger?  Always coming up with more ideas than you can possibly write about, zapping out regular posts to your readers? 

Well, I'm not. 

And when I do have an idea for a post, it never seems to get written.  Other things bog me down, or it seems that I let them.  And I'm always feeling guilty that I'm not a better role model for those I coach.  I know that if you provide regular content and read and comment on other blogs, you build your readership.  And that's what I want to model for others.  So I decided that I need to ramp up my blogging with a challenge.  A challenge to myself to blog regularly and a challenge to the teachers I coach to think about different topics to blog about and to provide posts that they maybe hadn't thought about writing about on their blog. 

So here's the challenge:  Write one blog post a week for 10 of the next 11 weeks.  Tag your post with "fallblogchallenge2010" and I will link back to your posts here as well.  I would love an email so that I know you're joining our challenge.  Here are the topics you can use, feel free to modify them to suit your needs.  I felt like these are things, as a reader, that I would love to know about any educator.



Are you ready to dig in your heels and accept this challenge?  I'm committing myself to being a better blogger and hope you'll join me.  If we're all in this together we'll be stronger bloggers and blog readers in the end!

36 comments:

Mrs. Nash said...

Woohoo! Great idea! I've set this as a goal for myself already this year (updating at least once per week), so I'll tag myself in. :) Looking forward to it!

Unknown said...

What a fabulous idea!! I love that you came up with a list of topics. That will be most helpful for me. It's usually the part that I struggle with the most. I still suffer from those "why would anyone want to read what I have to say about this?" feelings.

I'm also going to have my seventh graders do a version of this on their blogs and then have them add their responses to my blog as a comment (their blogs are password-protected).

Thank you for the inspiration!!

OK Melanie, I am in from the Northeast of the USA, Maine. What a great challenge.
Cheryl Oakes

Mr. H said...

Melanie I am in. You need a Canadian Perspective here!!. I need a reason to get off of the couch and blog. Thanks I will do what I can to keep the ball rolling.

Chris

Count me in Melanie! - you've just written the post that didn't get written by me. I'm in exactly the same boat as you! I've been coaching others so much in this new position that I've really neglected my own blogging. I have 16 draft posts that I just haven't fleshed out yet. Now I have a reason to get them done!! Fabulous idea my friend, fabulous idea!

Ann Oro said...

I'll join your challenge, Melanie. It will keep me focused on sharing ideas.
Ann

What a great idea! I'm in. I've taken to writing my blog posts in word as I can't access my blog from school, but then I find that I don't always follow through and post them. Thank you for motivating me!

What a great idea! I'm in. I've taken to writing my blog posts in word as I can't access my blog from school, but then I find that I don't always follow through and post them. Thank you for motivating me!

mmkrill said...

Okay, I'm in also:) Thanks for the push!

Melanie:

I will join in the fun. Blogging is my new favorite pasttime :)

Nothing like a challenge to get me motivated! I've been ignoring my blog for way too long. Thanks for lighting a fire under me!

Elaine said...

I am jumping in late to this challenge, but my first post is up. It can be found at http://drewillis.edublogs.org/

Love this idea! It is just what I've been needing! Jumping in late, but will get going this week. Thanks so much for your outreach.

sarahshep said...
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David said...

Absolutely love this idea! I'm jumping in a little late, and changing the format a tad to match Canadian Thanksgiving, but I love this idea!

Thanks for the jumpstart!

thanks for the challenge! i am on medical leave after a big surgery, so this will definitely keep me going. i also plan to blog on meeting with my students via skype for the 2 months i'm out :O) thanks again.

Jules said...

This is great. I'll be joining at readingwriting.posterous.com.

Thanks for the help--I try to have two regular features a week, but this time of year I'm pretty burned out...

iliketech said...

I like your idea and your topics. I think I am going to use some of your ideas for my students to write about in class.

Kathy said...

Yes, I want to join the blog challenge with my 1st Graders! We can do it! Can't wait to talk to them about it tomorrow. :) As they always say... Stay tuned!

B.Lindsey said...

I am so excited to join the challenge! I'm a new edblogger and even though I'm a week behind I'll catch up! Thank you for the ideas.

I'm in too! I'll try to help Chris with the Canadian perspective because you know everyone wants a little Canadian please. ;-)

Are you going to tweet the challenges each week and hashtag'em? That way I can keep a live twitter search for the challenges and people's replies when they tweet their posts.

I'm in too! I'll try to help Chris with the Canadian perspective because you know everyone wants a little Canadian please. ;-)

Are you going to tweet the challenges each week and hashtag'em? That way I can keep a live twitter search for the challenges and people's replies when they tweet their posts.

Darren, Thanks so much for helping me keep an eye on Chris! He's unpredictable http://www.flickr.com/photos/23046603@N00/3279503688/ ! ;)

And yes, I'll use the hashtag #fallblogchallenge2010 on twitter for all my tweets. Many others have been doing that also. Thanks for joining!

Elaine J. Roberts said...

This is a great idea. I'm jumping on this bandwagon, too.

eduguy101 said...

Okay I am in! I have wanted to be a better blogger and maybe this will inspire me and guide me.

Anonymous said...

Melanie, you are always inspiring me. I'm going to share this with my teachers next week, and commit to the challenge myself. The old paradigm reads "Knowledge is power." The new one demands that "Sharing knowledge is power." It's a much bigger picture--and the multiple benefits reflect that.

r8chL Y said...

Hi Melanie,
I've just come across your page today and would love to join the challenge. I know I'm a bit late, hopefully I can catch up though. I've been running a class blog for some years but realise that in that time I've neglected the use of blogs to foster my own PD. I have a personal goal to develop my own PLN this year, this seems like a great place to continue working toward my goal. Thanks.

Lazygal said...

Already posted my first response and scheduled Week Two! Thanks for such a great series of prompts.

Anonymous said...

I just read of your Fall Blog Challenge. My goal is to write one blog a week anyway - so I'd love to take part in the challenge.

My blog is at: http://learningisgrowing.wordpress.com/ Let me know if there is anything else I need to do.

Dan said...

Hi Melanie,

Found you through Cheryl Oakes and I'm glad I did! I'm also a Technology Integrator from Maine. My blog is http://www.tech-tuesday.blogspot.com.
Like you, I would like to post on a more regular basis. Tomorrow's post is scheduled to hit the blog at 12:01 AM. Squeeze in a visit when you can!

Dan

Coach Platts said...

I came across this post today via Silvia Tolisano's Langwitches blog.

I've been looking for some inspiration to get me blogging more. I'm at http://www.mrplatts.com/

I'll try to get caught up and keep on with the challenge!

I'm jumping in late after seeing Silvia's entry in her Langwitches blog today also.

loonyhiker said...

I've joined too. Thanks for the topics! They really help inspire me.

http://successfulteaching.blogspot.com

kgartside said...

Hi,
I love this idea! I've signed my class blog up to the edublogs challenge, so they will love that I've challenged myself too. What better way to model being a learner too!
I must be doing something wrong - I can't see the list of topics :(

My blog is at http://msgartside.edublogs.org/
and has the very unoriginal name of 'Ms G's Blog' which I'm rethinking, but not come up with anything inspiring yet!

Thanks,
Katy

kgartside said...

Hi - I'm in! I've signed my kids up to edublogs challenge, so they will love that I have challenged myself to be a better blogger too. I must be doing something wrong - I can't find the list of challenge topics :(

My blog is at http://msgartside.edublogs.org/
with the very unoriginal name of "Ms. G's Blog" which I'm rethinking, but not come up with anything good yet.

Thanks!
Katy

I'm late to the party, but I will double up this month until I am caught up! Thanks for this!