From East to West, and a Mid-Year Journey Checkup

It does not seem possible that I've reached the middle of my first school year with Shelby, but here we are.  On my first day back from winter break, I will officially leave East Middle to start my embedded visit at West Middle.  To Mrs. Martin and the rest of the staff and teachers of East Middle, thank you for your hospitality and your willingness to attend so many PD sessions.  As for West, I'm already intrigued to see your library's Genius Bar in person!

The Genius Bar is open!

A photo posted by The WMS Library (@thewmslibrary) on Dec 12, 2014 at 5:31am PST

As part of my mid-year reflection of considering my impact since starting at Shelby, I've examined some numbers and I'm surprised and invigorated.  Numbers alone can't tell an entire story, of course -- the personal emails I've received and the hearty in-person handshakes and head nods of thanks and shares of your personal stories of edtech success go a long way, too.  However, since I sorta-kinda gave myself a goal of reaching 2500 views on my blog by the end of the year, I thought now would be a good opportunity to look at several metrics.  At the genuine risk and probable likelihood of achieving a #humblebrag, here we go!

• As of today, I have cleared over 4000 total views to Edtech Elixers.  It took me from August to  October to hit my first 1000, but since then I have averaged over 1500 a month. Considering only about 700 of those views came from my mom, I'll consider that a success!  I hope at least a few dozen of you have stuck around as regular readers.
• As I approach my 3 year Twitterversary, I realize I am definitely more active on Twitter.  As of several days ago, I passed the 2000 tweet milestone.  (To put that in perspective, it took me 26 months to reach 1000 tweets.  My next 1000 took nine months.)
• On August 9 of this year, I got my 300th Follower on Twitter.  Since then, I've acquired many more at a rapid rate (in no small part thanks to Shelby educators!) and got Follower 500 on December 13.  My first 300 Followers took 2 1/2 years, but I'm well on track to doubling that amount in six months.
• I've just begun utilizing Google Plus, and my numbers there (11 followers) reveal I have a long way to go to rival my other social media areas.  However, I'm already grateful for learning from Google Circle communities such as GEG Kentucky, and thanks to Renee Boss, I recently had my first Google Hangout video chat.  (Quick plug for Renee: check out The Fund Kentucky, the subject of our Hangout.  It has interesting outreach opportunities for both individual teachers and districts -- including grants!)

There is a lot of work ahead in 2015.  Besides completing my embedded tour with Shelby schools, we must plan for the beginning of our student 1:1 initiative rollout.  I also have some professional development opportunities on the horizon, including a few presentations I will lead at KySTE in March.  And of course, I hope that Edtech Elixirs continues to be a valuable and entertaining source of information.   I am definitely in a mindset of growth as I will do my best to absorb all outside wisdom, advice, and knowledge to enrich myself and others.

But that is all to come.  As the last hours of 2014 tick down, I wish you and yours a happy and safe New Year 2015!