I have been blogging for quite some time now.  It seems I go in “fits and spells” and I know the lack of continuity is not a good thing.  I havealso stopped blogging as much now that I use twitter (@mwaiksnis).  However, blogging allows you to use much more than 140 characters, so it is nice to continue to blog.   It just seems the exchange of information occurs much more frequently on twitter.  I am wondering if my fellow edubloggers are finding the same thing.

 1.  Are you blogging as much as you had in the past?  If not, why do you think this is so?

2.  Is twitter effecting your blogging?  How?

 I guess what I am hoping for is a way to continue to use both blogging and tweeting in my quest to be a true life long learner.  I do not want to abandon either platform, but I wonder if splitting the time is detrimental.  PLN - Let me hear your thoughts.

I have recently finished my second year as a principal.  Each year I have done an anonymous online survey.  All of the teachers are requested to complete the survey.  I have created the survey using google docs as it stores it and makes it easily sortable, etc…

The results of the survey are used by me for my professional growth.  I try to be reflective as I study the results of the survey.  I will tell you up front - it is very tough to open yourself up for an anonymous survey.  You must go into knowing that the results will help you get better!  I am a very reflective person and I have to keep this in mind.  One of the things I try to do is create a synopsis of the results to share with the teachers and the leadership team.  If something keeps coming up, good or bad, there is probably a big need to look into it.  I try to see what “the middle” is saying and make these my top priorities.

This survey has become a tool that I value greatly.  It guides my professional growth and hopefully keeps me attuned to the needs/desires of my staff.  It will also be interesting to look back at each year once I have 10 years in!

Another school year has come to a close.  It has been a challenging year with all of the budget cuts.  I know this is the same pretty much across the country.  The good news is that our school continues to achieve even in the face of these hardships.  It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of educators.  We have been in the process of planning for next year for a while now, but that really gears up next week.  One thing we will be working on is a NOT to do list.

In education we often add so many things and sometimes to take stuff away when we do this.  Our leadership team is going to sit down and see what we still do that is either unproductive or duplicating something else.  It should be an interesting session and I look forward to our NOT to do list.  Have you created a NOT to do list before for your school?