Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

Since we are talking about doing a SCASL 23 things and SLJ is launching theirs, I thought a post by Dean Shareski might be helpful for any considering a dive into blogging. It is a good read, and Dean offers some VERY GOOD tips.  Better, he links out to some other resources you will find helpful.  You do not have to dive right into blogging to benefit from reading.  You could start by getting a reader and reading some. I personally think my blogroll located on the right of my blog is a fantastic start, and best, I’ve highlighted a few South Carolina bloggers to read.  Of course, that is just my opinion, and “everybody has one.”

How to Dive In

Blogging is not for everyone, and I’ve had my own fair share of failures. Most new swimmers don’t dive until they can swim, and they must build up a comfort level to even consider the act of jumping in, and then only near the shallow end.  So “diving in” may be a little extreme. However, blogging is a way to keep up with what’s hot and new, and it is an avenue you just can’t beat for networking with a whole different community, by and large virtual.  I whole heartedly recommend reading through Dean Shareski’s helpful information, and then get a reader (Bloglines or Google Reader are easy, free and reliable)  and subscribe to him. He is one of the most exciting “think out of the box” educators I know.  He’s on my blogroll too. (…oh and pay no attention to his list of top commenters! It can’t possibly be me…)  P.S. Congratulations to those who already have a reader! You can check off one of the 23 things!

Image Attributions (from Flickrcc):

Well here it is BLC08 Day 2, and I do believe the only ones in my network scrambling for BLC08 Day 2 are me, Lisa Durff, and Jennifer Wagner. At least that is who I am seeing repeatedly on twitter and in the Ustreams with me–that I know for sure are not present at the conference. There may be others–oh yeah and Bud the Teacher too.

Who is a digital immingrant?

Not I–at least based on this screenshot. Notice that my Skype also has a red 1 telling me I have a message. I was skypechatting with Joyce Valenza a little during the keynote this morning. Then I tried to get her session’s UStream, but the stream was to unreliable, and we kept losing audio/video, so i went over to Darren Kuropatwa’s session, and he even shared the location for his slides, but as any good presenter would do, kept bailing on the slides to go out on the www to supplement what he was talking about. Fantastic session. Still wish i was there in person.

Pictures are from my photostream