I am a very organized person. I am proud of my inbox and the system I created to keep it manageable and efficient. However, I haven’t yet created a system for revisiting blogs that I enjoyed and want to use or refer to again. Like important emails, blogs in my RSS feed or my Feedly account are flagged for follow-up. The problem of not having a system is that those little red flags on the blogs never go away! In addition, I don’t remember which ones I flagged because I enjoyed reading them, ones I flagged as reminders for future communications or initiatives or blogs of my own, or ones I flagged to return to when I had time for deeper reflection about the content.

I’ve decided to revise some of those flagged items now and capture my reflections.
Blogs I’ve read and flagged for follow-up:

* The Curse of Frequency– In this post, Seth Godin discusses the reality that you are more likely to sell a product if you repeat your advertising; frequency sells. He also discusses how too much can put people off of your product. One of my favorite lines from this post is, “The line between frequency and annoying is thin indeed”.  As I read and reread this post I thought about the connection to education and professional development. When is repetition a good thing? When does it hinder our work? If professionals are trained to expect that a message will be shared in a variety of ways over an extended period of time, are they less likely to pay attention to the initial message?  Sometimes I get frustrated by the amount of hand-holding in our profession. People have become used to, and even to expect, the fact that they will receive an email inviting them to a meeting, a calendar request, and a reminder to attend. If all modes (or other similar avenues) are not used, someone blames the meeting facilitator for lack of communication.  Do we really need 2, 3 or more reminders about one meeting? Sometimes I think the curse of frequency aligns with the lack of personal responsibility for being a professional learner.

*People Builder-  In this post Vicki Davis shares three ways to be a people builder: be challenging, encouraging and honest. My favorite line is, ” Are you challenging your students to do more and be more? They will rise or sink to the level of your expectations”.  Our expectations matter. This post is a nice reminder about the power we have as teachers, coaches, and leaders to make a positive [or a negative] impact on someone’s life. I vow to be challenging, encouraging and honest with myself and my colleagues this year.

* 8 Keys to Do-It-Yourself PD– This post from the Powerful Learning Practice group gives eights steps for being a learner in charge of your own professional development. I love all eight steps and the idea that we must each take control of our learning and growth; it is a professional duty. Step number two- Participate in Courageous Wonderment- is one that I plan to work on, especially over the summer when I have a little more time to breathe and reflect and wonder!

*  EVERYTHING: I enjoy each and every blog post that Shelley Burgess, my friend and colleague, has written, but recently these posts have come back to mind: Becoming leaders of readers and It’s not a PLC without all three letters. Shelley does such an incredible job of connecting current educational research and/or trends to her own reflections and our daily work. She is able to make personal connections that reach the heart of teaching and learning while eloquently describing the importance of achieving lofty goals.

• What have you flagged for follow-up?

• Do you have a system for tracking relevant blog posts for future use?