How to use this blog

I just read that only 1 out of every 100 readers ever comment on blogs.

90% of us are lurkers (we read, sure, but never comment), 9% are brave enough to join in occasionally. 1% are at it all the time.

Statistically speaking, then, I am just about due for a reaction.

Now, to be fair, about 9% of you guys have made comments. You have picked up the phone, emailed me or left me a Facebook update to continue the conversation in some way. You have told me that these ‘stories’ have moved you, made you think, helped you understand, made you angry and prompted further reflection... which is just about as much as any writer could ever want to hear.

Thanks.

The point is, though, the conversation quickly went ‘offline’.

Some of you considered ‘leaving a comment’, I know, but refrained ‘in case you got it wrong’.

I guess, though, that is the wonderful thing about the online conversations we can have with one another today. It is almost impossible to ‘get it wrong’.

I mean, take a look at most popular blogs: the comment-conversations are just like real life. You have those who reply with long and thoughtful reflections; those who throw in the odd word and perhaps chip in with a joke; those who miss the point altogether; and those who are constantly making links to related ideas and concepts.

And like all good conversations, all are needed to keep the conversation alive. No one is excluded.

So here’s the deal and my challenge. Let’s try and keep the conversation going online. Submit a reply, ask questions, challenge, make a link or propose an idea today.

After all, by sharing ideas, stories, questions and opinions, we might just find it easier to put the pieces together and make sense of those fragments.

Go on, try it!

3 Things You Can Do Today

•1. Subscribe to the conversation: If you know about RSS, you can click the ‘subscribe’ button. If not, simply add your email address in the box on the right of this page. Future posts will then be sent directly to you.

•2. Share the conversation: If you want to share any content on this site to your own networks, simply click the ‘share’ buttons either at the bottom of each article or on the right of this page.

•3. Join the conversation: Leave a comment or opinion using the ‘comment’ option at the end of each post.

Comments

[David Willows]

Sorry, guys! I have just discoved that the 'intense debate' comment option set up on this blog was not working very successfully. So I have gone back to the standard version; I have cut and pasted your posts on the 'Pieces that will not fit' article below.

Thanks for your understanding.

[Katie]

Hi David,

I'll confess that I'm an avid lurker. I'm really enjoying your musings, not least because we appear to do very similar jobs, albeit in very different schools. Fascinating to see and remember how the other half live. The school that I curretly work in is in one of the most deprived areas in the UK, but I also remember the challenges faced by many of the seemingly priveliged families in the International School system. I guess schools, families and children face challenges wherever they are in the world, and whatever socio economic circumstance they find themselves in.