Third Time's the Charm

Fall down seven times, stand up eight.~Japanese Proverb

Another new year and another chance to start again with forming the blogging habit. I think this might be the third year in a row that I have made this promise to myself. Each year I believe I can do it, but it doesn't take long before I realise six months have gone by and I haven't written a word. In this case it's been ten months since posting and I'm not really sure why. I had set time aside in my schedule, though I quickly would give it up and say I was available to avoid the task of composing a post. I had plenty to write about, between exploring ways to use digital badges, introducing coding and WeDo Lego, using Makey-Makeys and Thymio robots with students in addition to some truly inspiring and exciting professional development opportunities I've experienced this past year, finding content was not the problem. So what is it? Why do I always seem to get stuck?

I hate to admit it, but I think it's insecurity. I wouldn't call myself a perfectionist, but I am a rather harsh critic of anything I write. It's just so permanent. I agonise over word choice and struggle to strike a tone that I am comfortable with sharing. Too personal? Too formal? To much slang? To much #edtech jargon? Every time I write an item for the school newsletter I am stressed - I worry about clarity, spelling, grammar, interest, length... and something that should take ten minutes morphs into an hour long ordeal. So I probably shouldn't be surprised that I've managed to put off writing a blog post for 10 months!

So what's changed (this time)? Nothing, really. Just getting up again. Though, each time I fail at this blog I feel I gain a little insight. This time I am going to try and kick start forming the blogging habit with the help of the Reflective Teaching blogging challenge. The name appealed to me ;-) and I know I need some help. So, here goes for Day 1, my hope is after the 30 days I'll no longer need the crutch.

Day 1: My Goals
The original challenge is for the start of the school year, so I am adapting this somewhat to align to my goals for 2016.

So this is it. 2016 is the year I'm going to conquer my writing fears and commit to this blog. No more feeling guilty when students ask me about my latest post or when I talk to teachers about the importance of sharing practices. No more comparing my musings to other educator's blogs. No more excuses. I am going to write to reflect because I know that this is the only way to move forward and become the person I want to be.

Image Credit: Start by JakeandLindsay on Flickr CC-BY-2.0; Goals created with PixTeller