Teaching & Learning Notebook

Today, I launch into a new domain of learning!  I have toyed with the idea of creating an educational blog for quite awhile, but I have just never followed through with creating one.  Time was one factor that I used to qualify why I could not engage in blogging…which deep down was an excuse.  My spelling disability is another factor that made me shy away from a blog. I worried that I would miss an error and my competency as a professional would be judged.  So, today is the day that I quit procrastinating and put away my personal fears to accept the challenge of posting my perspectives, failures, and successes in an online social forum.   As I stated on my “About” page, that the ideas expressed in this blog are my own and have no connection to my school division.

My first challenge with blogging was figuring out how the structure of  Wordpress worked, which provided a few tribulations but overall hasn’t been too daunting.  I will say that I did struggle with the title of my blog.  I believe that the title should provide readers with a clear and concise picture of what I plan to examine.  Something that should be easy became quite difficult. I really had to think about what I wanted to communicate with regards to education.  I like the concept of a notebook because it can have different purposes. Penny Kittle (She is a transformational educator and mentor. If you don’t know who she is, here is her website address-www.pennykittle.com) is the lady who inspired me to use the idea of a notebook.  Notebooks are central to her approach in helping students and teachers become more powerful thinkers and writers.  I wanted my title to be authentic and definitely not kitchy.  After many, many lists, I took a straightforward approach, which reflects my personality, and I chose “The Teaching and Learning Notebook” as my title.   I look forward to this new journey, and I hope that it will provide many opportunities to improve my craft as an educator and will provide support and inspiration to my readers.

Please note:  The photo that I used as my header was taken by Nathan Russell who posted it on the Creative Commons website. This link will take you to Nathan’s Creative Commons Attribution Page.