Why Write? Is Anyone Reading It?

download (4)I recently celebrated my fourth year as a blogger and every once in a while I find myself taking a stroll down memory lane and re~reading some of my former posts. For some of them, the memory of the “spark” of inspiration is as clear today as it was on the day I was compelled to capture my thoughts and document them.
For some of my posts, I have to resist the urge to hit the “trash” button and delete them, as I am embarrassed by my simple, dis~jointed writing.
And for some of them, I read them and feel a sense of pride in the fact that I was able to articulate a thought, a feeling or a topic of interest and weave it into a well crafted post.

I recall the first time I received a comment on one of my blogs ~ it was a summer time post about sitting on the dock and listening to the sounds of nature and the importance of memorable sounds in one’s learning environment. The next day, the author of the comment introduced herself to me at a conference and shared that my writing had inspired her to start a blog of her own.

Over the past few years, I’ve been involved in a number of professional learning experiences about the power of blogging for students (as an authentic form of writing) and educators (as a platform for making their learning/leadership visible).
More recently, the world of Twitter and Facebook have become effective forms of social media for sharing my blog and increasing readership.
Yet I still have many days when I wonder if anyone, other than my daughter and best friend are reading the latest post on Leadership, Learning and Life.
But this past week, I had two experiences which have inspired me to continue to peck away at my keyboard and document those “sparks” of inspiration.

The first one involves a respected colleague who is doing an incredible job of motivating his staff to embrace the power of collaborative inquiry as a means of promoting engaging tasks and higher order thinking questions. I was invited to come and listen to him share the journey that he and his staff have been on during this past year. They have delved deeply into a model whereby they are exploring new and exciting teaching practices and finding great results in terms of more student voice and student engagement. He beamed with passion and pride as he talked about the commitment on the part of his staff to reflect on their practice. As he was explaining the professional learning opportunities that he afforded his staff, he shared that he had used one of my blog posts “Curiosity and Collaborative Inquiry” as an article for discussion.  I was truly honoured!

Then the very next day, I received an email from a former student, who has just finished teacher’s college. She shared that one of my colleagues had recommended that she read some of my blog posts. Within her email, my former student shared that she was motivated and inspired by what she read and she hoped that one day she would become one of the effective teachers that I highlight within my posts. Twice in one week, I was very humbled!

For those of you who have delved into the world of blogging,images I too, know the feeling of writing for a very limited audience. But this past week I was reminded that one never knows where one’s words, thoughts, stories, ramblings will land and what effect they may have on others.

 

 

Keep pecking away at the keyboard….

Come write with me…..