Finding the time for administrators to blog

Over at Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech, Dean mentions that he’s “going to be talking to senior administrators tomorrow about beginning to blog. I know that they’ll ask when they’re supposed to find time to blog.”

When I pitched blogging to my kids’ principal, I asked her to imagine being able to send an e-mail to every parent in the community, an e-mail that took five minutes to type, an e-mail in which she could highlight something nifty happening in the school or in a classroom, something that ordinarily parents wouldn’t see but would love to know about. That was a big hook for her, particularly when I also stressed that blog posting was literally as easy as sending an e-mail, that past posts were easy to find (unlike, say, an e-mail listserv), and that she could turn comments off or on as desired (she was worried about having the time to monitor comments to her posts).

That two-minute conversation was enough for her to try it out. I’m pleased to say that she’s finding her blogging voice and also has found much encouragement from parents telling her that they eagerly look forward to her next post. She’s already thinking of other ways to use the blog beside simply pushing out newsletter-type items and likely will pilot a post with comments soon. And thus a principal blogger is born…

As I try to get 100 new principals blogging in 100 days, I have been struck by how many principals have jumped at the chance simply because someone offered it to them. I’ve also seen this in my kids’ school, where I’m setting up some teacher blogs too. It’s as if there’s this large untapped blogging reservoir waiting for someone to jam in the pipe and open the spigot. How many more teacher / administrator bloggers might we have if we simply asked them if they wanted a blog (and could articulate in two minutes some tangible benefits and how blogging can fit in with their already-busy lives)?

Dean, if you’d like, I’d be happy to set up blogs for any administrators in your organization that want them. Best of luck with the conversation.