I was surprised the next day when they told me they had taken me up on that idea and had already started an online blog.
I had never heard the term blog before so I had to ask them what it was.
After they told me that, I decided to give blogging a try and to force myself to keep at it, I made a promise to my seventh and eighth grade students at Diamond- since I had them write every day, I would do so, too.
I don't know if they are still writing (Michelle Nickolaisen is still blogging away and has been successful at it.), but three days ago, the Turner Report celebrated its 10th anniversary.
During its first several weeks of existence, I didn't know quite what to make of it. I wrote about teaching, some news items, movies I was watching, books I had read, and just general things, few of which were of any interest to anyone else, but somehow readership began to grow. It jumped to 35 people a day and just kept growing and growing.
Eventually, it developed an emphasis on Missouri politics and education.
May 22, 2011, changed everything. After the Joplin Tornado, I began searching for as much information about Joplin as possible, searching through news releases, videos, government websites- anywhere I could find something that might interest readers.
I began using that approach with everything, trying to bring readers in southwest Missouri information about what was going on in the Joplin area and Joplin readers information about what was going on across the state.
Readership continued to grow until it has leveled off at about 3,000 per day on weekdays and 2,000 on Saturdays and Sundays.
Big changes are in store, including a new website for the Turner Report in the coming weeks, but just as I promised those students from a decade ago- I will keep on writing.
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