"Blogging is your job."

I've had a really hard time blogging for the past 3 years.
I know - that seems like a long writer's block.
But it wasn't really writer's block so much as losing my voice.

I left a school district 3 years ago.  And in my leaving my district I felt like I lost my voice and my clout and a bit of my identity.  When you have been part of a school district for more than 1/2 your lifetime it impacts you a bit.
My point of reference was the same for all those years.
And I loved it!  I knew what to expect, I knew the drill, I knew it.  I had moved out of the classroom 5 years earlier, and that transition changed my point of reference - but not as much as leaving the district all together.

I didn't really understand that when I moved to a new job - out of a single district  - to become a Technology Consultant working with multiple districts.

I am very happy with my decision to move.
I love my job!
I love the changes that it has brought about in me and in my connection to education and technology!

But, my fingers kept stopping as I sat down to write.
The questions came faster than my thoughts.

How can I write about education and teaching and technology when I don't work directly with students?
How can I really know what is best practices for students when I swoop into a school for PD and swoop out again?
How can I understand what it is like in a classroom when I no longer have those daily responsibilities?
How?
How?

And the questions froze my voice.
These questions made the words disappear and my thoughts dry up.  For three years.

Then I read George Couros's Blog "Blogging is your job."

And the John Dewey quote hit me hard.

“We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” 

I have a voice and a point of view and a need to write.
My perspective is unique to me.
I have been in education a looooong time!
I clearly remember when that first Apple 5200 arrived in my 4th grade classroom door.
And I have been using it ever since.
That means I have something to say!

So - it's time to get back to reflecting on my corner of the ed tech world!