The A, B, C’s (and D, E, F’s) of Blogging

On March 16th I’m speaking to the Charlotte Writer’s Club about “Targeting Your Blog.” Since I didn’t want to make 80 copies of my notes for the participants, I thought I’d post the notes here. This way they’re accessible to the Charlotte Writer’s Club as well as to anyone else contemplating starting a blog. Here are some easy points to remember when you begin your blog:

A is for Audience. When Kay McSpadden first asked me to speak to the CWC she complimented me on how focused my blog was. I can’t say I did that on purpose. All I knew was that I wanted to share my thoughts about reading and writing. From the beginning I expected that my main audience would be teachers and home school parents. Now I hope it also includes people who are interested in the novel I'm writing. My passion and my audience continue to shape what I post; I try to offer information that benefits these readers.

B is for Blogs. Visit other people’s blogs and think about what you find attractive or unattractive about them. One of my favorite blogs belongs to Joyce Hostetter. She uses pictures and videos well, shares herself, and writes succinctly. When you visit someone else’s blog, leave a comment. If someone visits your blog, check out theirs. It’s an unwritten rule in the blogosphere, but it generates enthusiasm, good will, and readers.

C is for Learning Curve. Be patient with yourself as you play and experiment. It takes time. Rome and blogs weren’t built in a day.

D is for Do’s and Don’ts. Do learn how to include pictures, graphics, and videos. This will make your blog more interesting. Don’t make it too personal unless that’s your purpose. Remember, whatever you post online is available for the world to read.

E Is for make it Easy to find information. Use tags (words or main points in your blog) which people can use to search your blog, or by which they might find your blog. Last summer when I attended the Highlights Writers Workshop I was pleased when Boyds Mills Press editor Carolyn Yoder, told me she had read my blog. She had found it one time by googling “historical fiction.”

F is for Focus and Finish. Make sure each of your blog posts is focused. Don’t ramble. And when you’re finished, print it out and reread it several times before hitting “publish post.”

Go ahead, get started. And when you do, post a comment here and let me know where I can find you online!

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Two Points for the Charlotte Observer

On March 12, Fannie Flono wrote an article, "Can U.S. stop playing for 14th place?" She argued for the importance of national guidelines for a uniform set of standards in Math and English. She reports that, "Other nations already employ such standards and they have led to student performance." Flono concludes, "...when expectations and standards are set high, children most often live up to them. It's to our benefit and theirs that we push them to reach for the stars."

I thought her point of pushing students to achieve their potential was good and I wrote and told her so. But, I worried, wouldn't national standards produce more pressure on teachers who already just "teach to the test"?

The next day Kay McSpadden wrote a column, "School reforms wrongheaded." In it she summarized education historian Diane Ravitch's main points in The Death and Life of the Great American School System, her newest book. There were many excellent quotes, here are a few:

"NCLB [No Children Left Behind] was a punitive law based on erroneous assumptions about schools.... It assumed that shaming schools that were unable to lift test scores every year--and the people who work in them--would lead to higher scores. It assumed that low scores are caused by lazy teachers and lazy principals who need to be threatened with the loss of their jobs. Perhaps most naively, it assumed that higher test scores on standardized tests of basic skills are synonymous with good education. Its assumptions were wrong. Testing is not a substitute for curriculum and instruction. Good education cannot be achieved by a strategy of testing children, shaming educators, and closing schools."

McSpadden writes how Davitch "concludes by calling for an elimination of testing as it is currently being used. Next, Ravitch argues for an emphasis on a content-rich curriculum and sound assessment to go with it. She suggests alternate, non-punitive ways to measure the quality of schools, and urges finding ways to attract and retain well-educated teachers who not only know their content but have a passion for their work."

Finally! Here is a well-respected professional who is questioning the test-taking environment which governs public schools.

I wrote to McSpadden and told her that I loved her points.

Two columns in the same paper. Are they opposites? Not exactly. But how do we fit them together? How can we have high national standards without creating a system that focuses on assessment at the risk of not educating children? If you are a parent or educator I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

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Photosynthesis and National Poetry Day

Kay McSpadden, in a recent column in The Charlotte Observer, invited her readers to celebrate National Poetry Day on April 30th, by posting a blog, tweeting on Twitter, or by simply sharing a verse or two with a friend.

I immediately thought of my good friend, Linda Phillips, who has been writing poetry for years and frequently uses it in her classroom. She graciously agreed to share the following poem with all of you. The poem received the Caldwell W. Nixon, Jr. Award (Honorable Mention) in the N. C. Poetry Society's 2001 contest.

Whoever said that poetry only belonged in language arts classrooms?


Photosynthesis

Mother Nature is in the kitchen
cooking up a storm.
She turns the sun onto medium high
and waits 'til it's nice and warm.

She mixes six molecules of carbon dioxide
with six molecules of plain old water.
She folds in a few of her favorite minerals
as Father Time has taught her.

The secret ingredient is chlorophyll.
It soaks up the energy from the sun.
This recipe yields sugar and oxygen.
Isn't cooking fun?

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