Time for a Change

In the coming days, you'll see some changes taking place. I'm tired of the tree design as it no longer fits as a metaphor for my online spaces. So I'm trying out some new, cleaner designs for this blog, my class Ning and wiki sites, as well as for my Twitter site. If you have ideas, I'd love to hear them. And stay tuned for changes.

You'll See More Soon...No, Really, You Will!

So all my plans for my maternity leave this past school year are still just that...plans. I wanted to update my resume. Update my blog. Update my websites. I didn't. I haven't. But I definitely haven't simply let the year slip by. I became a fellow in the National Writing Project. I'm working on a grant through the National Writing Project. I'm teaching my first graduate class to teachers. I started a business. And I've been writing (sorry, that it hasn't been here). So instead of planning, I've been doing.

But you'll see me returning more in the next few weeks as I plan and teach my first graduate course with the PA Writing and Literature Project on Reading and Writing in Digital Spaces. I'm currently trying to narrow down the tons and tons of videos and articles and books and blogs that I could use in this type of course. I certainly have way more than what I need. And in the process of narrowing down my resources I ran across this TED Talk video from Will Richardson. I think this might be an interesting place for me to start our study. What do you think?

Inspiring

Said so much better than I ever could, Sarah Kay expresses why I am passionate about teaching high school writers. We all have stories to tell.

Learn with Me: Blogging Basics

^{cross-posted at Babee Crafts}

I've been blogging for a while...okay, not as regularly on this blog since starting my maternity leave this past fall, but you will find me blogging about my adventures in mommyhood over at Babee Crafts. That said, although I've been writing online for a number of years, I've always used sparse, pre-designed templates. I'm excited to have stumbled across a couple of really great resources this past week for expanding my blogging know-how and hopefully adding some professional punch to my blogging endeavors.

First, you have to check out the amazing collection of resources posted just last week over at Tip Junkie. Her post "Blog 101: How to Start, Make It Cute, and Succeed Blogging" is fantastic! I'm looking forward to really digging into all the resources and links she has posted. Whether you are using Blogger or Wordpress, she has a wealth of specific links for customizing your blog whatever platform you happen to be using.

And Heidi over at Sew. Craft. Create. started a new series today which will go through a number of questions she's received recently about blog design. So, if you're looking to punch up your blog's impact, be sure to follow along! She'll be going through how to add links into your header, create your own grab buttons, and so much more.

All that said, watch for changes here! You should start to notice some subtle (and not so subtle) changes with my blog design in the near future...and hopefully a few more posts as well!