Happy Blogiversary

Today Mr. B-G's English Blog is officially one year old.

My initial foray into the blog world was one of experiment and curiosity. I knew I would eventually want to incorporate blogs into my teaching, but I wasn't sure how. I knew I wanted to expand my circle of colleagues, but I had no idea who was out there or what they had to offer. I knew I wanted a venue to write and reflect on my teaching, but I didn't know what I'd say or who would read it.

After one year I've corresponded with and learned from dozens of professional educators from across the U.S. (and a few from beyond America's borders). I've made 98 posts and had almost 8,000 visitors and 25,000 page views. I've written about my classroom, myself, sports, and popular culture. I created a resource page with handouts and assignments for my students and other teachers to download. I posted poems, essays, and short stories written by my students on class blog pages, and taught them how to positively and constructively respond to each others' writing.

I've done a lot, but it feels like I've barely scratched the surface. I'd love to write more about my successes and failures in the classroom. I'd enjoy posting more reviews of books, teaching guides, movies, and music. I'd like to mix in a message board and wiki. I'd like to teach actual blogging, and have my students create their own individual pages. I want to upload more handouts and teaching ideas, and beef up my link lists. I'd like to read an entry on each of the teacher blogs I link to and post a comment. I'd enjoy discovering 10 new teacher blogs and adding them to the list.

I had no idea how much of virtual world was out there when I first began. It is ever-expanding, and with it, I hope to grow too. I look forward to building on my successes from year one, finding new ways to engage my students, sharing my growth and development as an educator, and learning from all the fantastic teachers and education professionals I've been fortunate to link up with. Thanks to all who helped me get started.

As Bruce Schauble wrote on his blog's recent first birthday, many happy returns!