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Resolve to Make Attainable Goals! Learn Something New…..

goals

Did you know? Learning something new can make you smarter. Perhaps you can make a goal (or a New Year’s Resolution) to do just that. Instead of making resolutions that will make you feel guilty because they are too hard to reach, simply make more positive choices. Here are some attainable suggestions:

  •  Create your own blog – Begin with baby steps by following blogs! (WordPress.com and Blogger.com are easy to use and completely free).
  • Read a Non-fiction book – Seeing how someone else overcame or attained something can encourage and motivate you to do the same!
  • Travel – Go somewhere you have never been before. Choose somewhere close by or travel abroad. Learning about new people transforms your thinking.
  • Study a New Language – You don’t have to become a master. Simply begin by learning 10-20 vocabulary words and 2-5 phrases.
  • Tweet – Learn to use twitter and follow successful and influential people!
  • Use Pinterest – Sign up. Dive in. Pin. Follow. You will get many ideas and inspiration from others.
  • Take a Free Class – On iTunes University you can listen to lecturers from well-known Universities.
  • Drink more Water – It increases your concentration and also aids in weight loss.

Whatever you hope for in the New Year- I wish you a great journey as you work towards it. Should you need more inspiration, I recommend reading Joel Osteen’s “I Declare.” It has encouraged me to keep moving forward towards the things I want to attain.

-Andrea

Students can blog too-read all about it!

Ok-I am sold! I will begin blogging with my students. Thanks to my “Kindergarten Teachers United” Linkedin group member, Sharon D., for sharing this idea with me. Kid blog looks so easy to set up and I am about to do it. I am excited to share me and my students journey with blogging in the classroom! Stay tuned for updates!

http://updates.kidblog.org/  “”Kidblog.org creator, Matt Hardy, was featured in the front page story for the Sunday Pioneer Press. Here is one quote from Matt, who is also a 3rd grade teacher in Minnesota:

“With blogs, it’s more about the ideas,” he said. “It’s not so much about the original post as it is about the discussion that follows, that trail of comments that comes afterward.””

Related articles (Wow! Look at all these smart articles below about blogging. What a great guide for me to follow as I look to these blogging experts for guidance in setting up my classroom blog. I am so excited for me and my students!)

A blog is like a log? Do you agree?
Log of a Spruce tree on end showing ring detai...

Image via Wikipedia

What is a blog, anyway? Have you ever tried to explain it or personify a blog to someone? I suggest using my log illustration. A log was once a tree, but now it is exposed and about to do something more. It might just roll or it may be turned into paper, firewood or structures for a home. All of these are great uses, as long as the log is changing and becoming better. A log is just a log, that may be sat upon. But, it can do so much more than just be! In comparison, a blog was once a thought or idea in someone’s head (either spoken or unspoken). Now, it is a written thought (not just in an e-mail)…and those words might as well be written in blood, because what is online stays online, right? So, this blog is nice, but it is kind of like a log when it is not being used or read. Just being in cyberworld is not special enough. For this blog to be more, it needs others to intervene. The blog must have visitors, subscribers, group members and friends. When this begins, the blog is like a book-it is shared and used. But, the blog must be more than a book to thrive. A book can be closed and put on a shelf to gather dust. To prevent this devastation happening to a blog, the owner must add content often (2-3times/week, according to Ann Handley & C.C. Chapman in their book, Content Rules). When content is added often, then a unique and visual structure is being engineered. However, the key is to keep building and becoming more amazing. So is your blog just a log right now? What stage is your blog in?

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