Follow Me!

My colleagues shared ways to boost traffic to my blogspot so that I can build my Personal Learning Network and share with others.  They had several suggestions such as tweeting about blog posts, emailing potential followers, visiting other blogs and leaving comments, emailing potential followers or people who might be interested in the subjects on my blog, and posting on Classroom 2.0.

I implemented two of these strategies to increase views on my blog and have found them to be successful so far (my views went up about 50%).  One strategy I tried to reply to some discussion threads on Classroom 2.0 and then leave a link to this blog.  As I view my stats, it is evident that several visitors have come to this site from Classroom 2.0.  Doing this also benefitted me in that I was referred to several other blogs that are interesting and will be useful to the continued use of iPods in my classroom.  It's so easy to get lost in reading the blogs of others!

A news story caught my attention a few weeks back about a school system in Maine that was going to purchase iPads for their entire Kindergarten population.  After reading the story I wanted to share my thoughts but despised the thought of creating yet another profile on a news site that is not local.  Instead, I went directly to the school district's website and emailed the superintendent a link to my blog.  In the email,  I encouraged the superintendent to visit my blog and the blogs of some of my colleagues and then share them with his colleagues to inspire them and give them useful ideas and tips.  My stats prove that someone in Maine did view my blog.  I wonder if it was him?

This project of blogging has opened my eyes to the worldwide support that teachers can get if they know where to look and for that it has been a very valuable approach to learning.  We teach our students how to find answers to the questions that they have.  I appreciate being taught how to discover the many possibilities and conversations available at my fingertips and hope that this project continues to help others do the same.

Do you know of other ways to spread the word?  If so, please share!