It’s so exciting…..I have a name!

Well at long last, after much procrastinating and being indecisive with my new blog name, I have finally settled on one that I really like.  It’s funny how you can play around with so many different names and be unsure, but when the ‘one’ comes along you just know it’s a good fit.  So introducing:

‘Top Notch Teaching’.  I have bought the domain name and have a web host.  So if you type in http://topnotchteaching.com/ you will find my new blog!  I’m so daggy as this was just so exciting for me ;-)

I didn’t actually come up with the name myself.  I follow a blog called ‘Passive Panda’ and in the last week they wrote a post about coming up with the perfect name for your business.  It was really good timing for me, as I have been struggling with this for quite some time.  After reading through all of the suggestions and playing around with a few different options, I decided to leave a comment to see if anyone reading could help.  James Clear, the author of the article wrote back with a few suggestions, one of them being my name.  As soon as I heard it I knew it was just right!  If you want to check out the post or my comment and the reply, click here.

I still have no tagline.  I’ve had a few people suggest some different options, but I’m not really sold on them yet.  Stephen thinks that I should try not to be too clever and go for something that is a little more descriptive. When searching, the tagline will come up with the name and it will describe what the site is about and hopefully encourage people to click through J. 

Possible taglines that have been suggested so far include;

- Top teaching tips for the truly awesome teacher

- Teacher's tools a notch above the rest

- Top notch tools of the trade

- Tools of the trade for any teacher

- Total tool packages for the top teacher

- Online tools to support your teaching

- Online tools for tip top teaching

- Burst to the top of the teaching ranks!

- Dynamite teaching tips (so good, they're almost dangerous.)

Do you like any of those, or do you have any other possibilities for me?

I have much to do, but am looking forward to really getting to work to get it all up and going.  I’m hoping to launch the new site before Easter, but we’ll see how I go.  If you want to know what my goals are for the coming fortnight then check out my Accountability Journal.

Nearly there, refining my topic and developing a tagline

So I have been further working on defining my topic and thinking about my goals as I haven’t really been that impressed with what I have come up with so far.

My ultimate goal is to help make the life of a teacher easier, saving them time by providing quality resources, ideas and tips that will help them with their teaching.  I would like to help teachers build a richer learning environment, thus making a better classroom.  Personally, I would like the blog to challenge and inspire me.  I want to research and talk about educational issues, and connect with other educators from around the world.

My point of differentiation will be to provide practical, time saving tips and resources for teachers.  This could be related to lesson planning, classroom organisation, behaviour management and how to implement different teaching strategies.  I also have many connections with experienced/expert teachers who would also love to share their time saving tips and resources.

So with this in mind I have further thought about a name for my blog and a tagline.  What I have come up with so far is:

• Teacher Saving - Saving teachers time (although Stephen seems to think this sounds too much like a bank!)
• The Thinking Teacher – Thinking about a better classroom
• The Thinking Teacher – Work smarter
• The Thinking Teacher – Work smarter, not harder
• The Thinking Teacher – Saving teachers time

(According to my little sis I shouldn't use 'the'.  So I have checked and Thinking Teacher is availalbe as a .net and .com.au.  So that would also work).

What’s your preference?

Blog Names Continued.....

I’ve slowly been compiling a list of possible names for the new blog.  Thanks to the family the other night; they helped me brainstorm some other names.  It was rather fun coming up with suggestions, and my favourite so far (and it’s available) is ‘Give a shit teacher’.  But probably not quite right for what I’m after J.

Below is what I have so far….

Me and my lesson plans	The teachers tray
Innovative lesson plans	Click a lesson plan
Carry on teaching	Stress less teacher
Teacher attitude	Hot spot education
Teacher fountain	Perth teacher
Teachers bookmark	Swan teacher
Education project	Committed teacher
The aussie teacher	Teaches well
Teachers esky	Teaching hq (new)

Are there any there that really stand out?