TheJLV posted this excellent self analysis of why he blogs. Here is my response with frosting on top.
Ah, to be so well read you can actually feel the warmth of your readers. I totally agree Bill (Ferriter of the Tempered Radical), that a small group of colleagues is the best medicine but I started blogging because of you, as did others.
One of the reasons I read you (Bill) and Jose, besides our personal connections is that you both write with indelible passion. It is this passion that inspires me more than content even. Whenever the Olympics are on I am reminded of this fact. Watching someone who has trained for years, practiced, competed, won, lost, given so much to their passion, and then to see it realized in the public light is inspirational. Just like you guys.
Bill you are like a down hill skier, charging through the profession like a bat out of hell.
Jose, more of freestyle mogul skier, skill combined with style. Thanks for the lift up the hill brothers.
Frosting:
I meant to write “incredible” instead of indelible (and I actually wrote inedible) in that comment I left for Jose and Bill.
I have more respect for Bill and Jose than any other blogger out there in the edublogsphere because they always lay it on the line without compromising their professionalism. Jose replied that he liked indelible (from Mirriam Webster: that cannot be removed, washed away, or erased). I like it too. I think that is part of why I blog, I have passion for my subjects that can’t be washed away. I also realize that what I write, in this viral world, is permanent, even though I may be able to delete a post, once it is out there is out of my hands. I blog to explore perspective, my own, and others. I have always tried to expand the limited possibilities of my students and families and hopefully, I do a little bit of that for teachers in this blog too.
I have also been thinking about my Olympic sport analogy. I think I am sort of like a short track skater, I look for openings that other may not see and try to squeeze into them to create an opening for success.
Image from: http://www.upi.com/topic/Yang_Yang/
Great post, John! I was trying to think about your Olympic metaphor as far as my job is concerned. After some thought, I guess I would compare myself to the sweeper in curling. While I don't get to start the stone on its path, it is through my sweeping that I help determine the direction and speed that the stone travels.
I like the analogy you made of me after watching a bunch of freestyle skiing myself. Thanks for this. Eventually, we all start developing our calves enough to ski faster and smarter. That's the thing. Go hard or go home. 🙂
Neat post, John….and thanks for the kind words. I like looking at the different styles of bloggers as metaphors for athletes.
One of the blips with blogging that I've started to find is that while I see blogging as drafting—a place to practice and polish my thinking in an open environment with readers offering pushback—-others see my entries as final copies.
Sometimes they like to use my blog against me—-"Well you believe _____. I read it in your blog." I constantly wonder how that is going to come back and haunt me someday!
I wish everyone viewed blogging the same way—then there'd be fewer misunderstandings. Nothing I write on my blog is "final" simply because nothing in my mind is ever really "final."
But because publishing has always been a "final" kinda game, people look at new forms of publishing in the same light.
Does any of this make sense? I feel like I'm babbling.
Bill