Blogging as a daily practice

Trapped in double casts, it's amazing how much reading I've gotten in despite my marathon sleeping. The real miracle, though, was my resolve to blog every day - or at least every school day. I took to heart Richarsdon's suggestion (in his blog, wiki, podcast book- I can't remember the title) and decided to see if I could develop the discipline to blog. So far I've learned how convenient it is to post daily from home since I'm out of the classroom for several weeks. My substitute has begun to show the current day's blog post to begin class. I realize that the real power in blogging comes with the connections made with other bloggers, so I'll start working in that direction next. In just doing this much, I'm feeling the frustration some of my last year's kids felt when they were posting without getting any contact from others. I believe we learned that that contact shouldn't come from me (otherwise kids remain painfully aware of my judgment, points earned, etc.)but from other student bloggers and maybe even those out there on the web. So, the challenge at hand is to come up with some ideas and lessons that will help lay that foundation. (I sent an email several weeks ago to Khaled Hosseini's agent to inquire about his possible response to our blog if we should read Kite Runner this year -but I've never heard back from either of them. Might try again.)