Yes it is me, after a long time offline I have suddenly realised that it is the community of fellow bloggers that I have missed over the past 2 months...... to put things into context, I have now moved into what may loosely be called a 'proper job'.
I have joined a small keen group of web 2.0 savvy colleagues in the PDRD ( Professional Development and Research Division) at the International Baccalaureate. I find myself amongst people who understand aggregators and the use of web 2.0 techniques such as blogs and podcasts.... it is like suddenly visiting a new planet where they understand the language you speak perfectly and indeed even talk back to you and ask advice. In this environment, my new role has been to develop and promote online workshops for IB teachers and this is what I have been doing - all day every day ( an interesting change from teaching where in a day I might never actually achieve what I had planned to do - now I DO!!!!).
There is another strange spin off from the change ...... weekends actually exist as do evenings when one does not have to take out huge files and fill them full of writing that no one will ever read.
Obviously there are the things that one misses such as the inspiration that pupils can be, also I am not involved in global projects with other classes which is a big miss. I do not miss the fact that as a teacher one feels pretty beleaguered on occasions, knocked as I was by changing policies and the seemingly low esteem that we were held in by some parents.......those I do not miss at all
However I am in my element all day being online viewing material that teachers are producing and getting involved in planning new online opportunities for IB teachers. However one spin off of the new job is that spending all day online means that the burning need to be online at home in the evenings has receded, over the past month I would be more likely to turn a computer off at home rather than turn it on....... my email in box actually got to 600 unread emails, which tells its own story!!!!
However as this blog title states the blog community does care, When I got home from work on Thursday evening this week our answering machine was blinking its red eye, and on pushing the play button, I heard Allanah King from New Zealand checking up on how I was!!!! I have found out since that that wasn't the first time Allanah had tried to ring me, following concern from Lisa Durff. Now for someone to ring from New Zealand on a pay call is something and has shaken me from my blogging wilderness..... I actually posted on my Skype page a question ....Can one suffer from Bloggers Block? I now believe that you can, it happens if you change your outlook and lose regularl contact with your circle of friends...... I hadn't realised how much it had happened to me!
I feel bad as I have had a hazy view on what friends have been up to such, as the ULearn conference in New Zealand and other projects...... so if you will forgive me for forgetting my friends or seeming to Ddraig Goch would like to announce that he is back, and you never know The Podfather may well be roused into podcasting again.... perhaps with more thought to production values! Or perhaps not!
Ddraig Goch Returns
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6 comments:
Yippee! You're back! Glad you're OK - you've definitely been missed.
Lisa xx
Glad you're back :-)
Welcome back! I've missed your voice in my RSS feeds.
Yay, good to hear from you :). Allanah and I were talking about you at Learning@School conference and missing your virtual presence. I have to agree with everything you have said in this post. I too feel like I have 'grown up' and left school now. I am enjoying the new challenges and find that because I am spending time with people who actually speak the same language that I do, I am not engaging in as many online activities. Also working in front of the machine means it mostly stays off at night and weekends too. Also... and this is he biggest change, I no longer sleep with my laptop under the bed so it can be the last thing I check before I go to bed and first thing in the morning! I'm sure a healthy balance will kick in soon and we can be a part of the community. The interesting thing is, even tho I am 'in the room' so to speak, lurking and reading and keeping up with people, the fact that I'm not contributing means that I am not visible. I was just thinking this morning that you must contribute to be present in this online environment you can't just be present.
Great to read your blog again, was missing your voice.
mr h,
I just found your blog through a technorati search on IB that feeds into my bloglines. Welcome to the IBO's tiny corner of the blogosphere! I guess you're shoulder to shoulder with Lee & company. Any help in building the online IB community is much appreciated.
It is good to have you back, even sporadically. I have been at school since I was five and being out of the classroom is like a breath of fresh air.
The immediate feedback of the people I am helping is wonderful and very motivating but I would have nothing to talk about without the rich synchronous and asynchronous conversations I am able to have via Web2.0 with people such as your good self.
Cheers
Allanah
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