What the Blog
During different points in my life I have kept a journal to document my experiences, feelings, dreams and other personal musings. Even as blogs became popular on social media I still kept my spiral bound journal on my bedside table, close to me and private. Online journaling intrigued me, but to put such personal stuff out there was scary!
Recently, for an Educational Leadership graduate class I am taking, students were asked to think about a Passion Project. In my elementary classroom Passion Projects have revolved around questions students wanted answers to, like “What exactly is it that makes a rainbow all those colors?” or “Where was the first pizza made?”. Some students focused their projects on activities they would like to learn more about or learn to do, like knitting, creating a video game or decorating cupcakes with the flair of a professional. This assignment for my graduate class had me thinking, perhaps creating a blog could be my Passion Project. Again, the idea of creating a blog intrigued me, but was I really ready for the world to know my thoughts and feelings? The crux of the Passion Project assignment was we were to explore answers to a problem in education using technology. So, how would my creating a blog solve a problem? I decided to take the approach of trying to find out why educators create a blog. There must be a reason that there are so many educators out there with a blog now. As educators we are all so busy. Wouldn’t this be just another “thing” we have to keep up with? I decided to explore the benefits of blogging for educators.
I first began with a general search with Google of “teachers who blog”. I quickly realized that you can very easily fall down a rabbit hole looking through site after site of teacher’s blogs. While many of these blogs were interesting to look at and to read, they did not answer my “why” question. I also found that a good majority of these sites wanted to sell me something that they created, whether right from their page or by redirecting me to Teachers Pay Teachers. Now, I am a big fan of Teachers Pay Teachers, but this was not what I was searching for at this time.
I decided to start a little closer to home and spoke with a teacher in my school building who blogs. Tamara Letter is an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher with Hanover County and she just so happens to work in my school building. I knew Tamara had a blog of her own and she is also very active on Twitter. I asked what she felt were the benefits of blogging.
Perhaps there was something to this blogging. I decided I would begin to write about experiences in my classroom. I did not make my writing public right away. I still kept asking myself, “Who really wants to read what went on in my day?” So, I kept my writing in a folder on my desktop, just in case. I kept investigating the benefits of blogging and only found positives. Even though I had not gone public yet, I feel the act of writing on a regular basis has made me a better writer. In an article for Edutopia, Tsisana Palmer argues that blogging will also make you a better reader. I believe this to be true because I find myself constantly reading articles online and posts by other bloggers.
Blogging is also a great way to connect with other teachers to share ideas. It provides a means for global connections, as well as, a platform for learning from others. In the online article The Importance of Teacher Bloggers, the writers state, “Instead of only having local teachers in your professional learning community, you can now have teachers from all over the world to exchange stories, strategies, advice, and lessons.” Blogging is also a means for educators to connect through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Finally, and probably most importantly, I have learned that blogging is a great reflection tool. “The act of getting words on paper (or typing out those words!) is very cathartic and allows you to analyze your thoughts and actions in a much more reflective manner than it would be to simply think back on your day.” (The Importance of Teacher Bloggers) For me it was truly cathartic. There were many days I was tired and angry about decisions made at my school that were out of my control. Writing allowed me to get out everything I was feeling and while I may not post my negative feelings, the writing itself still benefited me.
Perhaps one of the most popular education bloggers today, George Couros says this of blogging, “I’ve yet to hear anyone who has stuck with blogging suggest it’s been anything less than essential to their growth and improvement. I’ve no “data” to prove this but I’m willing to bet my golf clubs that teachers who blog are our best teachers. If you look at the promise of Professional Learning Communities that our schools have invested thousands, more likely millions to achieve, blogs accomplish much of the same things. The basic idea of the PLC is to have teachers share practice/data and work in teams to make improvements. A good blog does this and more.”
10 Takeaways for Teachers
- Focus on your passion, however you define it.
- Be personal and true to yourself.
- Don’t write anything you don’t want your students, administrators or family to read.
- Use photos to get you started. Sometimes just a photo and a caption can say a lot.
- Write regularly or write when you’re inspired, but write.
- Find your audience. If a blog gets published on the World Wide Web but no one’s there to read it … it doesn’t make a sound.
- Read blogs of thought leaders you admire.
- Reach out to and network with other bloggers.
- Invite comments and dialogue.
- Get started.
And so I did it. I went public. It’s out there. No one knows it’s out there, but that’s OK, for now. https://wordpress.com/view/simplyformel.school.blog