Why do a blog?

I've been in this profession of education for so long that I can be considered a veteran of mimeograph copying machines.  Back when I first started, I would wait my turn in the "workroom" where this machine was located and then affix my carbon to the roller and start cranking out copies.  Today, and a few decades later, I can now crank out material in so many other ways.  A weblog is just one of these ways.

Our Guidance Department at EOSHS has been gradually making a shift to electronic communication, trying to straddle that line of demarcation that separates "high tech" from "high touch".  There is certainly enough debate out there about the relative merits of online communication - it's too impersonal, too anonymous vs. it's very personal and wholly accountable.  Like it or not, our students are living and breathing in this electronic world.  Adults, knowingly or otherwise, are, too.  So, we (educators) need to reach out in ways that connect us to students -  and parents -  and where they can be found.  And we need to make more information available to everyone in our school community that can be accessed whenever and wherever one may be.  This weblog is one more effort among many that we're trying in Guidance in order to achieve the aforementioned.  It is not, I wish to emphasize, a replacement for the one-to-one, face-to-face meetings that remain an integral part of what we do.  Instead, this is a complement to the personal approach and, perhaps, even an enhancement of it.

But why a weblog, you might ask?  Well, here's why.  Weblogs offer the opportunity for on-going conversations.  Unlike an eboard or a pdf file, a weblog provides a chance for readers to respond, for dialog, and for others to participate in the conversation.  It can become an open forum on matters that invite discussion.  It can also quite simply be another way to convey information.

This is an experiment.  Initially, we'll introduce one topic per week and assess from there. I invite you to join.  Comments will be posted by those who wish to register (anyone can do this by following the link on this page).  Respect, with malice towards none, will be the guiding rule for posts.  In addition, links that I consider useful and interesting will be added at the bottom of the page.  I encourage suggestions to make this experiment work.

Let me know your questions.  It's time to start cranking.