Janet's Blog

I can hardly believe that this is Blog #500! When I wrote my first blog, more than 13 years ago, I didn't really think about how long I would keep writing blogs, and I certainly never expected to write so many. In fact, I would have never written the first one if I hadn't attended an informative session at our annual winter teachers' in-service training, where the presenter walked us through the process, step by step, so each person in attendance was able to start a blog of their own.  I signed up for that session because I had heard a little about blogs, and I was curious to see if I could use a blog as a communication tool for the parents of my preschoolers. At that time, though, I discovered that our school district would not allow its teachers to use the new technology in that way, so I decided to write a personal blog instead. I was exhausted when I got home after a grueling day of sessions, but I sat down at my computer after supper anyway, and began to write my first...

I am feeling discouraged about my blog. If you are one of the few people reading my blog lately, you may have noticed that I'm not writing as often as usual, certainly not once a week, as I have intended. I just can't get excited about writing since my readership has declined so drastically since October. I can attribute this sudden decline to a couple of things. First of all, Facebook has changed its algorithms again and, this time, it affected my blog immediately, and not for the better. Secondly, Google is dropping Google +, which also directly affects the number of people who read my blog. I know I am not the only person who is grieving the changes that have been happening on Facebook. For me, and for many others in my extended family, Facebook originally provided a simple, suitable way to communicate when our family was enduring some challenging times. Later, I was pleased to be able to spend a few minutes each day catching up with old friends, and getting to know some...