Before Ask Me About My 12,000 Kids moves into this new year, it is a good idea to reflect on where this blog has been and so, here are 17 blogtoids* for 2014:
- You’re smarter because of this blog. You’ve learned about silent giants in the schools, resiliency, and math, music, and refrigerators. You’ve discovered what vision, attendance, and shoes have to do with academic success.
- We offered up posts that inspired you to “try this” at home, like Twelve Days of Kindness and Eleven Tips to Beat the Summer Slide.
- We named names throughout 2014 and we won’t stop in 2015. We’ll continue to tell you who is making a difference for kids through CIS.
- We offered up 51 posts; that’s practically a fresh post every Tuesday.
- 18 of those post were written by guest bloggers. Thanks to those of you who contributed your voice to this blog.
- We featured our two youngest bloggers ever: Kawyie and Daquayveon.
- Each of the Kalamazoo Public School buildings that have CIS (most recently Northeastern was added to make 20 CIS sites) were mentioned at least once in one or more posts. We love the Kalamazoo Public Schools!
- It’s a tie for the posts that generated the most responses from readers.What is Your Story? and The Madness of the March to Graduation both inspired a number of phone calls, emails, and even caused you to interrupt my lovely meals at Martinis and the Union to tell me you hope Pam writes more posts and that you now “get CIS!” (Actually, I love those kind of interruptions. Keep them coming!)
- Most cried over blog posts: We Can’t Have A Strong America With Weak Kids and Mis(Thanks)Giving.
- Funniest: Knock, Knock.
- Hardest to write: Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall. What’s the Ugliest Lie of All?
- Your favorite title: Llamas in Pajamas Go to Med School (This post, written by Donna Carroll, lives up to its title.)
- Post that featured your favorite Principal interview. Thank you again, Daquayveon, for totally rocking this!
- Post from the previous year that you still can’t stop talking about: Kaitlin Martin’s Paws for Stories. (Kaitlin, can you write a post for us this coming year?)
- Hardest thing about blogging? Coming up with a title for each post that is provocative without being too provocative. It needs to be something catchy that will make you want to read more than just the title.
- Most rewarding thing about blogging? Sharing our community in action and learning about the wonderful students who are empowered through CIS because of your support.
- Face it. If you aren’t reading Ask Me About My 12,000 Kids, you are missing out. How many places thank you for being mashed potatoes?
Stay with us this year and continue to get a behind the scenes glimpse of CIS in action. Learn interesting things about the people who are helping to shape the future of Kalamazoo. At Ask Me About My 12,000 Kids you will continue to meet the talented teachers, hard working principals, and dedicated community volunteers, partners, and CIS staff who are empowering our children to succeed. We look forward to spending another great year with you.
*A blogtoid is a term we made up. A blogtoid is a fact or deeply held opinion about a blog.
