Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > August > 08 > Entry
One year later …
That picture above is the Yankees traveling down the Canyon of Heroes, celebrating their last World Series victory over the Mets in 2001. (What, you didn’t know I was a Yankee fan?)
That’s how I feel today, exactly one year after launching Get on the Bus. Put simply, it’s been fun.
But I’ll let you in on a little secret.
Six months before Get on the Bus launched, I had never visited a blog and wouldn’t have been able to explain to you how one worked. At that time, if someone had suggested to me I should write a blog, I’d have thought it was a stupid idea.
With one year under my belt, I’m pleased I did. Get on the Bus has been a bigger success than I had hoped, ranking consistently at or near the top among the best read blogs here at the Dayton Daily News.
For me, Get on the Bus offers a chance to connect with our local readers in a new way. Feedback about what interests you, angers you, perplexes you, etc., is very useful to consider as I write about education in Dayton. The blog also gives me a place to write about interesting stories or education issues that don’t necessarily lend themselves to news stories.
But this venue has also created connections with new audiences beyond Dayton. I’ve said for a long time that our issues here matter nationally because of Dayton’s place of importance in the national school choice conversation. It’s been nice to see Get on the Bus occasionally linked to by edblogging big shots like Eduwonk, Edwize, Edspresso and Joanne Jacobs. I’ve also benefited by connecting with other edubloggers around the country (especially the Education Wonks and those who regularly contribute to their brainchild, the Carnival of Education) and learning about the issues that matter to them.
But if I have one disappointment, it’s that the conversation here has not been as lively as I had hoped it would be by now. Part of this is “blog envy.” To some extent I modeled Get on the Bus after Patti Ghezzi’s excellent Get Schooled blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Take a look at her comments and the great back and forth, especially among parents and teachers, and you’ll see what I hoped to recreate here.
I very much appreciate the generally intelligent comments posted here, especially by a core group of loyal readers. I’d just like to expand the conversation so it includes more voices.
Besides asking you to urge all your friends and relatives to read Get on the Bus, I am interested in suggestions any readers may have for connecting this blog with more people, especially teachers, parents and students.
And don’t stop there. What else would you like to see here at Get on the Bus? What do you think would make it better? Tell me what you like most, or find most annoying, about this blog.
And, above all else, thanks for reading and caring about education.
(Image credit: AP)
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Journalism
Comments
By elementaryhistoryteacher
August 10, 2006 9:54 PM | Link to this
Happy anniversary! Thank you for your hard work and attempts to get somethin’ started. I understand your “blog envy” as I have it myself. I am in the Atlanta area and read Patti’s column often, however, by the time I get home from school there are so many comments there mine would get lost in the shuffle. Yours is the only newspaper based education blog that I have commented on where my comments were acknowledged in some way. I appreciate your efforts and look forward to another year of great posts at this site!By Ms. Cornelius
August 10, 2006 4:11 PM | Link to this
Happy Blog-iversary, Scott! You have done a great service in making educational issues easy to understand. None of the papers around me devoted nearly the kind of attention to educational issues as you do through this blog. At least this blog allows comments, unlike many of the other newspaper-related blogs. As I have learned, a blog typically has many more readers than it has commenters. It’s just a fact of blogging. Keep up the good work, and we’ll keep on coming back!By Denise
August 10, 2006 1:55 PM | Link to this
Scott - Congrats on one year! I’ve been trying to get Columbus people dialed in on your blog since our local paper does not appear to be on the blog bandwagon yet. First Columbus, next North Carolina…soon you are going to be worldwide (if I can help it, that is).By Lea
August 9, 2006 11:35 AM | Link to this
This is one of a very few blogs I read every day. My suggestion? Focus more on the kids. They are the reason we have school, and thus, this blog, right?By Eve
August 9, 2006 10:36 AM | Link to this
I don’t have much to say too often but am a faithful reader of your blog. I feel like I have a better understanding of the workings of my local school system than I did when my kids were students. It’s an invaluable resource for any parent — for that matter, anyone interested in their community. Thank you and happy anniversary!By Mark
August 8, 2006 10:42 PM | Link to this
In the blogosphere, a one-year anniversary is a very big deal — something to be quite proud of. That’s especially true when your blog provides the consistently excellent content that “Get On The Bus” provides. Congratulations, Scott, and keep up the fine work!By Mary
August 8, 2006 7:08 PM | Link to this
Scott, I care a lot more about your education blog than I do the New York Yankees. In my book, your blog qualifies you for the “canyon of heroes” a lot more than a ball player.