Dear Reader

For the longest time I wondered about you.  Were you out there?  Then I added a Clustermap and saw your dots appear all over the world.  I didn’t hear very much from you, but I was reassured that you were there, and I was not alone. 

This year I realized that I needed to do more to let you know I was here on my blog with the latest news from my classroom and young adult literature.  I started with the audience close to home–students, parents and staff at our school.  Instead of keeping  up two websites, I started putting assignments on the blog and posted a link to the blog on our school website.  I put my blog address on our team newsletters and even printed business cards to hand out to parents at open houses and conferences.  I printed postcards to mail with news of great student posts.  I have also flooded the school email with great news that shows up on my blog.  Some fellow teachers have told me that they now spend Friday evenings reading student blogs.  You know who you are.

Now that I have joined the Edublogs Teacher Challenge for the last Kick Start Your Blog Activity # 8, I know there is even more I can do to promote my blog.  I’ve connected with teachers from around the world through this challenge.  I’ll keep checking in with them through Google Reader and hope they will keep dropping by here as well.  I will continue to reach out by leaving comments on the blogs I read and not be shy about leaving my blog address with them. 

One thing I’d love to do with my blog is open more conversation between my students and their favorite writers.  Could their be guest blog posts or question/answer interviews in my blog’s future?  The possibilities are exciting! 

I keep hearing that Twitter is a valuable resource for teachers.  I just may have to check it out and make more connections that way, too.   In the meantime, I have connected my blog with my Facebook account so that posts automatically show up in my notes. 

So, thank you, dear reader, for visiting my blog.  I hope you come back soon.

16 Comments on Dear Reader

  1. 15wyattcjcms3
    March 1, 2011 at 11:12 am (13 years ago)

    The mare stood over its colt,staring into the pasture

    Reply
  2. Anne Mirtschin
    February 12, 2011 at 5:03 pm (13 years ago)

    Hi Kay,
    I do remember reading this post. I love your idea of a guest post by authors and student commenting. I wonder if authors would do that? Blogging has such potential. Initially, we would get parents commenting and we still get some comments, but we need to work more on this aspect.
    It is interesting to note that your parents will call or email you about their thoughts. Are they fearful of being ‘out there’ on the internet.
    Another quick question, when your blog posts are updated to facebook, where exactly do they appear. I am only just getting into facebook properly now so that is a new learning game for me.

    Reply
    • Mrs. McGriff
      February 12, 2011 at 9:25 pm (13 years ago)

      Anne,
      Many authors–especially newer ones–are more than willing to do a guest post. I’ve had one author, Tessa Gratton, who did a vlog for summer reading. I’ve also worked with authors to publicize books. Check back Tuesday for a special surprise. I’m not sure why more parents don’t leave comments. I’d like to add a page that explained more about blogging and commenting. This is the first experience with blogs for most of my students, too.
      My blog posts show up in the Notes on Facebook. Depending on your settings, the published notes may also show up on your NewsFeed. Mine do, anyway. I can’t remember now how I did it, but I know I followed directions from an Edublogs tip when I first did it. Look for me on FB.

      Reply
  3. Mrs S
    February 12, 2011 at 2:32 am (13 years ago)

    A great post about readership. Hope to find you on twitter soon.

    Reply
    • Mrs. McGriff
      February 12, 2011 at 11:53 am (13 years ago)

      Thanks! I did make it to Twitter. It’s a little overwhelming, but I love the resources I am finding.

      Reply
  4. Malyn
    February 7, 2011 at 7:29 pm (13 years ago)

    I’m glad you’re considering joining Twitter as I’d love to see you there. I find its succinct and asynchronous nature much easier to manage than my Google Reader. I have a couple of #ksyb posts related to Twitter which might convince you.

    If you ever decide to join, please let me know (@malynmawby on Twitter).

    cheers,
    Malyn

    Reply
    • Mrs. McGriff
      February 8, 2011 at 8:41 am (13 years ago)

      I’ll look for your posts and look for you on Twitter. I plunged in. I’m still trying to find everyone from the edublogs teacher challenge. I’m @kaymcgriff if you find me first.

      Reply
  5. Carol Satta
    February 6, 2011 at 5:00 pm (13 years ago)

    Hi Kay,

    Love the idea of the author interview post. Hope you join twitter. I actually searched your blog the other day to see if you had a handle so that I could follow you. It’s just my second day, but I’m catching on. We can learn together! Not sure, but I think Twitter may be more efficient than the Google Reader path. My handle is @WCSLibrary007. Hope to read your first tweet soon!

    Reply
    • Mrs. McGriff
      February 6, 2011 at 8:47 pm (13 years ago)

      I took the plunge. I searched for you on Twitter but didn’t find you. It may be my brain fogged state from this never-ending crud. Look me up @kaymcgriff.

      Reply
  6. mrsjwilson
    February 6, 2011 at 10:10 am (13 years ago)

    Hi, Kay! What a great idea to have favorite writers as guest blog authors. I will be very interested to see how that goes if you are able to work it out.

    Thanks for being part of the challenge. I have really enjoyed reading your entries and interacting with you. I am looking forward to following your journey!

    Reply
    • Mrs. McGriff
      February 6, 2011 at 3:44 pm (13 years ago)

      Thanks for stopping by! I hope I can have some guest posts by authors. In the past I’ve had students write to an author. This time part of the letter will be inviting them to write a guest post for our blog. We’ll see what happens.

      Reply
  7. Anne Mirtschin
    February 6, 2011 at 7:38 am (13 years ago)

    Thanks Mrs McGrif
    You have captured the elements of successful readership building for your blog. I really enjoyed reading your introduction and your approaches to connecting with parents and the general school community. I think this is very important too, that our readership includes not just educationalists, but parents and students as well.
    Please join twitter as the conversations will continue there. Have you registered? Follow the steps as outlined in the Beginners Challenge. You will find many more to network with.

    Reply
    • Mrs. McGriff
      February 6, 2011 at 3:45 pm (13 years ago)

      I’ve been thrilled with the feedback I’ve gotten from parents this year. I think I will head over to Twitter. It sounds like a great resource.

      Reply
  8. MrDCarson
    February 5, 2011 at 9:29 pm (13 years ago)

    A very well written post, and I can relate to a lot of it. I also recently condensed sites and started using my blog for my class website. I still need to connect with parents more. Any suggestions on how I can get them to participate. They know we blog but rarely comment.

    On a side note if you do join twitter, be sure to let me know and follow me @learnfromcarson

    Reply
    • Mrs. McGriff
      February 6, 2011 at 3:47 pm (13 years ago)

      I don’t have many parents who comment, but they do read and follow. I get the most feedback after sending postcards and creating a post that highlights students’ work on their own blogs. Even though they don’t comment, parents will call or email me with their thoughts about the blogs.

      Reply

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