What is a blog and why am I trying to write one?

So what exactly is a blog and where did that name come from?  The answer is easily found in the age the internet.  The answer:  "The term 'blog' is a combination of the words 'web' and 'log', which refers to an online journal or diary where people can share their thoughts, experiences, and opinions."

I am a 65-year-old school principal attempting to navigate the internet age in a time of blogs and other concepts foreign to me.  I once heard a description of the divide between technologically fluent young people and folks like me who, while grateful for the extraordinary new tools now available to us, are struggling to avoid appearing / actually being inept when it comes to the ever-changing modern age of computers.  Older people like me are "digital foreigners" while those born a few decades later are "digital natives".  

As someone who has dabbled in languages mostly as a hobby - but for a time as a profession - during my life, I get the connection.  In the same way that a native speaker seamlessly, and seemingly effortlessly, lives in a world where the native language is all they know, digital natives are entirely comfortable in the world of today's modern technology.  To continue the analogy, people born before the explosion of the digital world have had to adapt to a world that is foreign to them.  An amazing array of tech tools and resources that are now ubiquitous simply did not exist outside of the world of sci-fi and the remarkably prescient cartoon The Jetsons.

How does this relate to me and my role as the principal of a small elementary school in southern Alabama?  As part of a course I am taking to help me gain a broader understanding of the digital tools available to help me in my role, I am tasked to create a blog, aka "web log".  The course is proving to be an interesting one because it is pushing me out of my comfort zone and forcing me to try some new things.  It remains to be seen whether or not I will continue this blog but I am grateful for the exposure to new tools and options.  I know that personal growth often comes with discomfort and that embracing change is an essential part of the process.  This is uncomfortable for me and that's ok.