edu180atl on hiatus

Dear edu180atl community,

For 18 months many in the Atlanta community have gathered at this place to share in the common experience of everyday learning.  We’ve all been inspired by what we’ve read here; our efforts have even inspired other communities to start up similar projects .

Over the past two months it has become increasingly difficult to recruit writers.  We are now at the point where our list of writers has been exhausted.  Therefore, we will temporarily cease daily posting on the edu180atl site.  We are happy to accept new writers, but we will have to hold off publication until we have a sufficient number of writers “in the queue.”  If we do not receive  much of a response, then we will simply call it what it is: an end to a wonderful experiment.

In the meantime, we encourage you to revisit previous posts from the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school year.  Read, re-read, comment, and reply to comments.  There are MANY unfinished conversations out there that were cut short because of another lovely post that sparked another conversation.

Also, encourage your friends, family, and co-workers to write.  While this is fertile ground for education professionals, we encourage those from the realm of government and private business as well.  After all, one of the principle reasons for this project is to highlight that learning does not just happen in the classroom.  Encourage those who wrote last school year to sign up again.  Finally, if you haven’t signed up to write, we’d love to add your voice to the city-wide chorus of thoughtful reflection that has enriched our lives and minds for the past year and a half.

“180 days, 180 voices” was our goal back in August 2011.  We met that goal and exceeded it thanks to the energy of the Atlanta community.  Thanks so much!

Your edu180atl editors

edu180atl: will miller 1.18.13

I know that the majority of this world has heard of the phrase “YOLO”, you only live once. For the first time today, I finally figured out what that really, truly means.

edu180atl: mary hannah martin 1.17.13

Today I learned about Martin Luther King.

edu180atl: amanda bowers 1.16.13

Every Monday I awake and think to myself, “can’t wait till Friday.” It’s not that I do not like my job or my life; it’s more of thought process that I have been accustomed to since the age of four.

edu180atl: lily morgan 1.15.12

I have been a part of the cross country team since I came to Westminster in sixth grade. I’ve never been particularly good at running, but I’ve always really enjoyed being part of the team. A few days ago, I decided to go on a run after school. I had a really stressful day and I had so much to do, but I had this incredibly strong desire to run. So I went down to the trails, and just started running.

edu180atl: emma borne 1.14.13

As I sat down today to think about what I have learned, I realized that I have learned the importance of doing just that—sitting down and thinking.

edu180atl: 2012 Year in Review

Although technically we began the year in August, we mustn’t forget the amazing growth and energy that we saw in this community from January until May of last year.

However, since we are an August-May project, we’d like to share with you the activity since our first post on August 6.  In the last five months volunteer writers have offered up 88 posts, receiving 19,294 views, and 389 comments from 36 different countries.  This compares with 15,745 views throughout the same months in 2011–an increase in activity of over 20%!

Our readership has gained a great deal of steam this year.  We are thankful to all of you that spread the word, share the project with friends and family, encourage people to write, then reward their bravery by adding a comment to their post.

We would like to let you know that finding writers for December was quite a challenge and our writer queue for 2013 is less than robust.  We ask that you reach out to your friends, colleagues, and family and encourage them to write.  One of the main goals of edu180atl is to emphasize that learning is NOT merely the milieu of teachers and students.  We ALL have stories to tell of important moments of learning.  And we need to hear those voices.

Here’s to a happy, healthy, and joyous New Year!

Happy New Year from the editors of edu180atl!

Happy 2013 everyone!

Posts will resume on Monday, January 14.  If you have not signed up to write yet for the 2012-2013 school year, we encourage you to do so now.  And please tell your friends, family, colleagues, students, teachers, and relative strangers about this wonder community that continues to grow.

We will follow up this post with a “2012 Year in Review” post shortly.

Go to http://edu180atl.org/apply to sign up.  See you next week!

edu180atl: sarah borne 12.14.2012

Today, as I end a week full of last minute projects and stressful exam reviews, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. With what seems to be a constant flow of school work, I think its safe to say that it has been a very long semester.

edu180atl: katie jones 12.13.2012

I envisioned a calm lull at some point, between the rush of preplanning and final exams at Christmas, but that hasn’t happened, at least not yet.  Between my long-range projects, weekly meetings, immediate deadlines, spontaneous conversations with colleagues, club gatherings, phone calls, teaching a class, parent conferences, and book studies, my professional life feels like nothing short of a whirlwind.  I love it, for certain, but it’s busy.