The School Administrator's Guide To Blogging: A New Way To Connect With The Community

The School Administrator’s Guide to Blogging A New Way to Connect with the Community Mark J. Stock Published in partnership with the American Association of School Administrators Rowman & Littlefield Education Lanham • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK Published in partnership with the American Association of School Administrators Published in the United States of America by Rowman & Littlefield Education A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowmaneducation.com Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom Copyright © 2009 by Mark J. Stock The original article from which this book is written has been published as a chapter of the Heart and Soul of Educational Leadership, Volume Six, written by Mark J. Stock. Published by Corwin Press, an imprint of SAGE Publications in 2008. All rights reserved. Used by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stock, Mark J., 1957– The school administrator’s guide to blogging : a new way to connect with the community / Mark J. Stock. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-1-57886-919-0 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-57886-919-6 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-1-57886-920-6 (pbk.: alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-57886-920-X (pbk.: alk. paper) eISBN-13: 978-1-57886-921-3 eISBN-10: 1-57886-921-8 [etc.] 1. School management and organization—Blogs. 2. School administrators—Blogs. 3. Communication in education. I. Title. LB2806.17.S76 2009 006.7—dc22 2008028999 ⬁ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America. CONTENTS AC K NOW L E D G M E N T S v 1 BLOGGING EMERGES 2 ADVANTAGES OF BLOGGING 17 3 BARRIERS AND PROBLEMS WITH BLOGGING 57 HOW TO START AND GROW YOUR OWN BLOG 73 5 HOW TO MAKE YOUR BLOG A DOG 91 6 TIPS FOR BLOGGING SUCCESSFULLY 97 7 THE VISION 4 1 105 R E F E R E NC E S 111 A B O U T T H E AU T H O R 113 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS heard the slight “tap, tap” of knuckles rapping on the doorframe to my office. I looked up to see Jim Evans, a trusted employee and a personal friend, standing in the doorway. It drew my attention away from the papers stacked on my desk. A quick glance at the clock on the wall revealed it was 5:30 PM. I waved Jim into the office. Jim often did his best thinking at the end of the day when he started to unwind. Many of our philosophical discussions would start up as the office quieted down and the employees began trickling out. I noticed he was holding a book in his hand. He reached over and tossed it into my overflowing inbox. I glanced at the cover, Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World by Hugh Hewitt. Jim said, “Mark, I found a book you may be interested in reading. It may have implications for