To Our Local Readers...Please Help Our Little Blog Grow

Greetings:

Our little Mountaindale NY News blog has grown significantly since our launch earlier this year, and it is you the reader who have made this possible, and we thank all of you for stopping by regularly to read our articles. We obviously want to continue to grow, want to broaden our readership, and to do that we are asking for your help, as there are a lot of things you as a reader can do to help get the word out about our blog, and to help improve our ranking on the Google search pages. So, below is a list of some simple things our readers can do to lend us a hand in our efforts to reach a wider audience.

1. Leave comments below the articles. Like an article, don't like an article, have an opinion on something that has been written? Then please leave a comment! Start a discussion in the comments area, or just tell us we are doing a good job. Comments show an active and interested readership, and the more comments we have, the better we will place in the search engines.

2. Toss us some Google Publicity...at the bottom of each post is a small box with a plus one on it. Click on it, and it gives us a bit of a boost, some free Google publicity.

3. Share a link to your favorite articles on the various Social Media sites such as DIGG, Facebook and Twitter...you can even share the link, and include commentary about the article.

4. See an article on the blog you want to share with friends and family...send them the link to the article, rather than copying and pasting the article into an email.

Again, thanks to all our readers...our blog numbers keep going up with each passing month, and we could not accomplish that without your help and support.

A question for our audience...is there any interest in seeing us holding a blogging workshop here in Mountaindale, or perhaps a Social Media workshop? Leave us a comment if you might be interested, or call (845) 434-4747.

BYOT...Bring Your Own Technology...To Class

There was a very interesting article on CNN early last week on a teacher out in Los Angeles (Enrique Legaspi) who has embraced the technology that is Social Media, instructing his students to BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) and be ready to give your answers on TWITTER. As you can imagine, opinions were varied, people weighing in (via Twitter) on both ends of the spectrum. Some of the tweets:

@cwindon: "The concept is fine but Twitter shouldn't be taught in school. What about the parents who don't want kids using social media?"

@meanmindyjean: "I hope my own children's teachers will consider this. My son would benefit. Twitter finds a place in the classroom."

@BarneySTJ: "Not sure if i agree with how this teacher is using twitter in the classroom but I definitely agree with the attempt."

@mightyjackstar: "The changing face of the classroom, and I think it's great - Twitter helps shy kids speak up in class."

Personally, find myself far more willing to embrace the technology that is Social Media and Twitter, than I was in allowing Calculators in the class room. With one, you are still providing the answers, simply using technology to send them to the instructor, while with the other, it was the technology providing you with the answers. What is your opinion? Should we change the rules that have our children's Smart Phones and IPod's turned off during class, or instead should we embrace the technology, and find ways to use in in helping our kids learn? Let us hear from you.