The Biggest Blog Challenge

I've set up my blog.  I've created an account and used a custom template.  I set  up my RSS feed and gadgets on the side.  So what was the hardest part?


I think many (including my sister, Sarah) would agree: the hardest of setting up a blog is creating the title.  It needs to be both clever and genuine, fun and intelligent.  The title of a blog needs to hook potential viewers in with promises of what is to come.  How do you accomplish this feat with a few words or a short phrase?  More importantly, how do you find a name for your domain that hasn't yet been claimed?  And what's worse - websites like blogger require you to name your blog before you have done anything with design or posts, and this title is difficult to edit once it is set!

Last night, Sarah sat with me for two hours trying to think of the perfect name.  She tested out everything, from the boring (A Day in the Life...), to the very silly (The Woof Pack), to what she finally decided on, (Diary of a Wet Nose).  Now, as I sit here typing this post, she is over here agonizing over the tagline for her blog (she's using WordPress - they require not only a title, but a tagline before you can even set up your blog).

Originally, I named my blog Ms. Eaton's Resource Room.  It was a name I had used in the past for websites and projects for grad school.  I liked it because it had a dual-meaning.  As a special educator, I work in a pullout resource room with students.  However, I had intended my blog to be a collection of resources and information for parents, students, and teachers alike.  Then, I realized I was working with the wrong audience in mind.  This blog is intended for colleagues in a class, as well as anyone else who wants to read it, and it's about learning to blog, with the end goal of using blogs in the classroom to help my students learn.  And so, with much deliberation, I came up with my current title.

What about you?  Did you find naming your own blog to be difficult?  How did you finally decide?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

Weblogging to Learn

As Will Richardson (2010) states, "Just as writing teachers should write, and literature teachers should read, teachers who use blogs should, well, use blogs" (p. 43).

To me, this is a profound thought!  I have often thought about ways to incorporate blogs into my teaching, but I was always missing this key step.  I have limited blogging experience, with the exception of my teenage online journal.  But if I want to use blogs in my classroom, I need to have experience with my own blogs first!  So here goes.  My first attempt at a regularly maintained weblog.

I am fortunate enough to have my fiance and my sister joining me in this learning experience.  Oddly enough, right before I started this class, my sister decided to start a blog of her own based on her passion; dogs.  So, while I am working on this blog, she is in the process of setting up her own.  Stay tuned for photos! :)

With that introduction, I am pleased to announce the opening of my blog, where I will be learning to blog, and blogging to learn!

For further reading, check out the following!

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.