A Daily Blog Post
March 3, 2024 – Writing as the Method of Inquiry
I love this image of a bowl of Cheerios to complement the text of this blog post. Admittedly, I am a bit overwhelmed by the idea of blogging everyday, but my friend and colleague, Ian Landy, blogs every “work” day. I was cyberstalking his WordPress site – technoloandy – site of Ian Landy – and checked out his record of blogging. He’s maintained this site since 2012 and he has been blogging daily since 2014/2015. That’s amazing!!! I’ve tried numerous times, but could never do it. As a result, I opted to do a weekly blog post. That seemed to meet my needs. I do need some time to reflect on the week and pull out that “nugget” to find content worth writing about.
Looking at this bowl of Cheerios reminds me of daily blogging. There are soooooooo many days and as you can see, only a few Cheerios shaped as hearts are present in this sweet mix of deliciousness. There are so many individual Cheerio-bits, but it’s the whole bowl with a cup of (oat) milk that makes this a yummy treat. A bit of crunch. A bit of sweetness. And hey, a bit of fibre. Why not? I can see the value of writing a daily blog. I believe that Ian was inspired by another Canadian educators, George Couros. Looking at his website – George Couros – Learner, Speaker, Author – it looks like he blogs weekly now. Nonetheless, his blog is under the header “learning.” Makes sense.
March 4, 2024 – Whoops!! The day after…
I did not expect my Sunday to turn out the way it did, but it did. Now I return back to this “daily blog” post attempt the day after. No worries, but clearly I will need some time to adjust to the idea of a daily post as part of my pursuit of understanding the methodology of autoethnography. I am reading a mini-book by APA on autoethnography and watched a YouTube video of the author who provided an overview of this methodology states clearly at the beginning of the book that WRITING is used as the method of inquiry, not as a by-product of the research. This idea is compelling for me as I spend much of my time blogging and reflecting on various ideas related to my personal and professional learning… and research.
When I blog, I find that my writing takes a life of its own. I have an intention to write and what to write about (or sometimes it’s just to keep the writing process ongoing on a weekly basis) and often I find that I meander a bit within the writing and at times it takes me to places I did not realize or intended. In these moments, I walk away thinking… HUH… I didn’t realize that. Blogging helped me to jump into the writing process. I did not perceive myself to be a reader or writer, but apparently, daily reading and writing is essential to autoethnography. Blogging, for me, is more than a reflective practice or journal entry. It’s an opportunity for sense-making and thinking through ideas. And maybe, this writing might help someone else (who reads it).
The tables have turned though… writing as the act of inquiry in this methodology is going to help me with my research agenda. It reminds me when I inspired to do a project in The Science of Curling in Grade 9. I won that year. I just loved that science project. It was something that I was interested in. I loved going on the ice to collect data. And, I can clearly remember the wooden poster board I made for the project. I was so invested in the project and what I would learn… not about winning or losing the fair. Ironically, as I write about it, I’m realizing it also reflected what I want to explore further with my first investigation… THE PERFECT CURLING SHOT.
So simple, yet so complex. What makes a perfect curling shot? The topic seems even more appropriate as I watch the Brier on TV (and last week, the Tournament of Hearts). My commitment is to document some of my memories about curling on this blog site. If you had clicked on the link above, I am also navigating another website too. I remember writing that very post and deliberating which site to make that on. Nor here or there, but I have decided to write these curling blog posts here on this WordPress site. I am very curious of the writing process as a sense-making process. I have already made a few blog posts about curling, but what I’m understanding is, curling helps me to make sense of complex ideas. I look forward to this writing.