Weekend Wrapup 09/03/07 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - September 3, 2007July 5, 20100 Labor Day edition. It's raining. I'm catching up on housework. And falling WAY behind on blogs. I am going to trim my RSS subscriptions this week so I can get through them more quickly. I hate it when Google Reader says I have 100+ articles to read every day. Life is too short to squander it all online. I have fallen out of touch with other bloggers because of time commitments. What I'm going to do with today's wrapup is send you to some friends around the web. Leave comments on their blogs. I find that leaving good comments on other blogs really helps out my blog as well. With this being said, I have turned comments off for this
The State of the Blog: 09/01/07 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - September 1, 2007July 5, 20100 The most popular post I made to the blog in the entire month of August was The State of the Blog: 08/01/07. I glanced through it again today and was impressed by the changes that have happened in a month. Specifically, in the readership and authority arenas. it's funny how a little change each day is much less noticeable when viewed daily than it is when viewed from a greater distance. While numbers fluctuate from day to day, FeedBurner tells me that I have averaged 52 subscribers throughout the last 30 days. That number is up to 60 as of this morning. A month ago, we were hanging at 35. My Technorati Authority number has gone from 13 to 24
Weekend Wrapup 08/27/07 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - August 27, 2007July 5, 20101 Today is the first day of school in Texas. Even though the school year starts later, the football season doesn't. I'm sure some of the kids have already begun to burn out because of so much practicing for the last four weeks or so. But the high school band has a football game to play at next Friday, so we have a lot of work yet to do. Fortunately, it has been a terribly mild summer in South Texas, so it could have been much worse. John shows that I'm not the only educator out there who places a high value on personal productivity. Check out his list. A different John shows the value of custodians. We had a speaker
How To Cope With Tragedy General by Joel Wagner - August 22, 2007July 5, 20100 Last week, Michelle wrote that she learned that one of her colleagues recently passed away. She writes a popular blog on blogging and was wondering if she should take some time away or just how to handle her desires to grow as a writer, generate income with the blog, and also just get a chance to deal with the emotional heaviness of the situation. Last November, I went to the first funeral of a former student of mine. She was a high school tuba player in the two years that I knew her. She graduated in 2004. She lived down the street from me. She washed my car for a quarter once. We traded movies during the summer, and
Weekend Wrapup 08/13/07 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - August 13, 2007July 5, 20102 Another week begins. Now that Summer Band is in full swing, I am reminded how difficult and full my schedule is during the fall. My blogging will come when it comes. :) Now on with the wrapup... CaliforniaTeacherGuy has accepted a position in Small Desert Town. He recently received a letter from the superintendent. One of the huge advantages to a small district is that the administration is more involved. I once interviewed in a district where the principal taught history, and the superintendent taught math. He actually came into the interview when he reached a break from mowing the football field! If you get in today or early tomorrow, My Education Junction has a contest. I realize that by
Weekend Wrapup 08/06/07 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - August 6, 2007July 5, 20101 Today is my sister's birthday. Happy birthday Joel's sister. :) My birthday is also this Wednesday. It's not an education post, but the organization stuff covered is great. I love Zen Habits, and Leo once again hits a homerun here. How to Simplify Your Filing System; or, Why Stacking Just Doesn't Work. How many teachers need to read this one? I am specifically thinking about my high school and middle school English teachers here... John Pearson over at Learn Me Good has written his 300th blog post. It includes a wonderful review of his recently published book of the same name, Learn Me Good. I think I want to buy me a copy of that book. Or maybe John will
The State of the Blog: 08/01/07 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - August 1, 2007July 5, 201011 I took out nearly every advertisement from the site. The exception are links to books on Amazon, and a couple of Text Link Ads. Why? They're simply not making money and they cause screen clutter. So away they go. I additionally got rid of the SnapPreview display that had been popping up every time a user hovered the mouse over an external link. It's extra CPU time and can be annoying quickly. It's great to know how to do that kind of stuff, but brilliance is shown by knowing how to do something and choosing to not do it! Blogging guru Lorelle also left me a comment advising me against it and I trust she knows a little bit about
Weekend Wrapup 07/30/07 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - July 30, 2007July 5, 20101 This is my second installment of the weekend wrapup. I wanted to focus on some great articles I saw this week that relate to writing and blogging. Mystery Teacher has written about the lack of good writing and grammar that has become so common throughout our society. Using the English Language lately? Copyblogger has an article about editing. I don't edit enough. When I do edit on this blog, it is usually after I have published. We could all use help on getting anyone to read every word we write. Eric writes about the seeming lack of college education majors who blog. I wonder if this is because people are scared to start a blog for fear of not
Weekend Wrapup 07/23/07 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - July 23, 2007July 5, 20101 As the school year looms closer and closer, I am going to establish a blogging routine. The plan is to drastically reduce my blogging from every day as I have over the summer to three times a week. Beginning today, each Monday will feature a "Weekend Wrapup" where I'll point you to a handful of blog articles that have caught my interest in one way or another throughout the course of the prior week. As I get the process more refined, it will take shape. I am playing catchup now following the Texas Bandmasters Association convention, but I thought I would go ahead and start the habit. Mister Teacher over at Learn Me Good has written Quein es muy macho?
More Links: Wednesday Website #3 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - July 11, 2007July 5, 20101 Wow. Today seems like Link To SoYouWantToTeach day in the blog world. Maybe I really should go on vacation more often! Eric Turner has featured my site as his Wedneday Website #3 for the week. Some of his comments include: First of all, the blog is written by a guy! Finally! A edublog written by a guy! I try. I like this guy cause he is posting some genuinely good stuff for teachers (or future teachers). Additionally, he has done everything possible to help you navigate his website; directing you to the posts you should read first and then elsewhere and such. When I first went on it, I felt like I was on a road map, it was that