Blogging is a GO!

I work at a big school. A really big school. We not only have a technology person on staff, but a whole department with a technology budget. When I learned about the educational promises associated with blogging, I knew I wanted to try it with my students, but I've never been the type to stretch the boundaries of what our school will allow or fund. I can't say I've really been a leader in this regard, so I was nervous to try. But I decided to plunge ahead with the project, and so I set up a meeting with my assistant principal, who got me set up with the technology director for our school. He asked me to put something together to show him and pitch my idea, so prepare I did!

When I went into his office, I learned that he was a former English teacher, and he launched into a beautiful story about how he had started a radio broadcasting project with his students when he was a young student teacher. He hinted that my blogging project reminded him of what he undertook so many years ago, but he wanted me to prove to him that it was a worthy cause.

Let's just say that, with many thanks to my New Media and Literacies class, along with my wonderful classmates, I was able to win over our wonderful technology guy. My school is going to fund a closed Ning network, for my use in a classroom blogging project, which I will pilot in the coming year. I'm going to be the guinea pig for the entire district. What a feeling!

I'll let you know how it goes-- the Ning should be up and functioning after we get back from Christmas break, so I'll have more to report after that!