Last year I learned how to be a connected learner with PLP, and now I want to take what I learned to the next level by contributing to other learners instead of just taking. Paula Montrie, the Middle School librarian here at Friends, started a Blogging Alliance. About ten of us will learn about blogging together. Doing this by myself hasn't worked, so I'm hoping the support and camaraderie of the group will take me to the next level. I love that there is no pressure and each of us can select the involvement and level of commitment we choose. Paula gave us five levels to choose from: Just lookin'-Not touchin', Commentators, Baby Bloggers, Blogging Buddies and Teacher Blogger. I hope she writes more about this on her blog, Reeled in Research.

At the same time I want to help our students and teachers become connected learners. Last year several teachers worked with me to get some of our lower school students blogging. The students loved connecting with classmates as well as getting comments from strangers in other schools. I learned a lot about blogging in lower school at ISTE 2012, and have shared it with our faculty. This year instead of just 3 classes blogging we could have up to 10. Some teachers are starting with class blogs using Edublog or Blogger while others have set up a Kidblog account for their class. It's exciting to see the enthusiasm spread.