Happy Birthday to The Innovative Educator

Happy Birthday to The Innovative Educator! You are two years old today.

It was exactly two years ago that The Innovative Educator took its first step in an effort to publicly become a part of the conversation on educating innovatively. As I shared in my post Why I started a blog and why maybe you should too, this blog was born in great part due to the prodding of blogevangelist Will Richardson who I have since named my Blogfather. It was Will who I would run into at events and conferences who would ask, “Have you started sharing your ideas yet on a blog?” and who would write, “if you want your ideas to resonate with me and to be taken seriously, don’t just talk. Engage. Publish. Converse.”

I took his advice and like any proud parent, I can say I’ve learned so much from the experience of giving birth to this new creation that has developed a purposeful and professional digital footprint consisting of 268 entries. Now, when I'm Googled, it is me, not one of 1000s of others, who comes up on the front page. And, there are all sorts of other important footprints that The Innovative Educator has made. Its print is left on the front page of Google searches like: Educating Innovatively, cell phones in education, technology education quotes, teaching in the 21st century ideas, personal learning network, Renzulli learning to differentiate instruction, and more.

I’ve watched my baby blog grow from no readers to an average of 125 a day last year and 336 a day this year. There have even been a few times when The Innovative Educator has received significant international attention. Last year, during the Inauguration she received more than 6,000 hits a day from people interested in teaching the inauguration in innovative ways. This year thousands of visitors flocked to the blog to read a number of popular posts. Among the most popular were

• 21st Century Educators Don’t Say, “Hand It In.” They say, “Publish It!
• Fix Boring Schools, Not Kids Who Are Bored
• Why Social Media Curriculum is Critical in Schools - 140 Character Conference
• Don't be illTwitterate or aTextual
• My Top 20 Education Quotes from 2009
• Kids Teach Kids with Mathcasting
• Get Going with Google Apps in Your School
• Five Ways Innovative Educators Can Use Texting As a Professional Tool
• 8 Innovative Schools Provide Ideas and Inspiration for 21st Century Education
• Using a School Wiki to Increase Communication, Collaboration, and Enrich Instruction

• The Why, What, and How of Getting the Benefits of Student Response Systems without the Cost or Equipment

• 5 Innovative Ways to Differentiate Instruction as Witnessed During My Visit to the School of One

  
  

I also want to thank The Innovative Educator for the opportunities it has brought me. Because of you I now contribute to the popular educational magazines Leading and Learning and Tech & Learning. I also have a book in the works about "Teaching Generation Text" and your success has enabled me to present keynote presentations on ways to educate innovatively and serve on panels at conferences like Tech Forum and the 140 Character Conference.

You also now have Authority! Growing from being just one of millions of blogs to gaining a credible 544 authority rating on Technorati. But, even before anybody was reading The Innovative Educator, you enriched my life with opportunities to practice my writing skills and articulate and develop my thoughts.

The Innovative Educator has helped me understand the power of influence and given me an outlet to share with my readers about what I love most – “Educating Innovatively!” So, happy second birthday… and many more!