What is my purpose?*

Why write a blog?  Why write anything? My purpose for publishing this blog is to communicate information, share ideas, and begin dialogues.  The thoughts and ideas expressed in the blog are my own. I may, from time to time write about policy issues, but in doing so, I am expressing my own personal views, and not those of an employer. For the most part, I plan to share information that I believe promotes educational excellence, equity, and learning, because those are issues that have always been at the core of my beliefs as a teacher.

I write and share, because writing helps formalize and foment ideas.  I have advocated writing for years because putting pen to paper or type to screen is one of the strongest ways to engage with learning.  I have been a Project CRISS trainer for over a decade, and one of the key principles of creating independent learners is to teach students to transform information. Writing, and in this instance blogging, is a powerful way to transform information.  

I also write to be a role model.  If I ask students to write, I should be demonstrating and modeling how to write. If I ask teachers or principals to write, I need to be modeling content and process.  If I believe writing is a powerful tool for learning. If I want to model life-long learning, then I should be writing as much if not more than my students.  

This blog, like most things, will always be a work in progress.  My publication schedule will depend on my free time, and my other writings may take precedence over this blog. My hope is that this blog will help me expand my own writing and learning in a variety of ways.  

*This post is a slightly modified version of the first post of my original blog, posted in January of 2013. – DDO