KB...Konnected

20,000 Hits!  Wow!!! I can’t believe it.

I started this blog back in July of 2010. The reason I started is the same as many others..to catalogue my resources. I thought that I would be working on creative writing in the fall, as well as teaching my art classes and I was starting to collect websites where students’ work could be created or published online. I hoped that my blog would help me keep track of all my resources and I would be able to share my resources with teachers at my school.  I never thought too much about other people outside of my school using it. I sure do think differently now. 

I was so happy when my blog reached 25 hits in the second month (probably just family members). Many days I had no hits but I kept on writing hoping more would come.

As I started to get more visitors (and really nice comments from them) I started looking for more resources to share. Soon the dilemma arose on how to combine and organize the resources I was writing about. This is where LiveBinders came in. I had seen one “Online Art Games” by Theresa McGee (excellent binder!) and had used it often the previous year but I didn’t know I could make one too. 

I had tried Symballoo, Tizmos, Jog the Web, and 3x3Links (still do on occasion, ‘cause I like them all) but when I discovered that I could make LiveBinders (love the bookmarklet tool), I knew this would be my main tool. 

Around this time my Dad started to help promote by blog. He printed up flyers and dropped them off at schools…a little embarrassing but business did pick up. My Dad contacted anyone he knew who had a teacher in the family and promoted my blog endlessly. He still does. I think he even wrote to a school in India to share my blog with them. Now my Dad sports the one and only KB…Konnected ball cap in the world! Both my parents and my husband have supported me on this journey. In fact all of my family has been extremely supportive. And yes Paul…that means you too!

To make this long story short my blog is tied to my LiveBinders because I find it to be a great way to organize my resources and share them with others. I love putting together new binders and have never been at a loss for coming up with a new one that might help teachers and students. In fact I always have one or two on the back burner. I love to receive tweets and emails asking me what resources I have for something. I’ll share what I have and if I don’t have something I will surely get on it. I always make an effort to create an account (if required by a website) to determine if it’s worth it for the teacher to also take the time to do it. 99% of all my binders only share free resources, same as my blog.

The other great tool that I found on my blogging journey is Twitter. Twitter is not what most people think it is..at least not how educators use it. It has provided me with the best “Professional Development” that I have ever had. I love the #edchats, the online conferences, but most of all I love the camaraderie of all the educators I come in contact with. I have never “met” such a supportive group from all over the world…so willing to learn and share together. All with the same goal…providing students with the environment and tools to help them become strong, productive members of society.

I wish I would have joined Twitter years ago. I have learned so much about other cultures and countries (geography too). I know I never would have learned about Shrove Tuesday had it not been for Twiiter. :-)

So back to the 20,000 hits. I just want to let everyone know how much I appreciate them stopping by (next time bring a friend), and visiting my blog.

Warm regards…..Karen

Update:  February 17th, 2011. Today my Dad told me he was recently in an office waiting room and the woman next to him had an iPad. He started up a conversation with her, telling her about me and my blog. Well she decided to look it up and landed on this exact post and began to read. Soon she looked up at my Dad, smiled and said “I see that you are still promoting!”  We all had a laugh with this one. Yes, he is always promoting and now…I Love It!