Wednesday 14 April 2010

Why Blog?


This is my first attempt at personal blogging. I've been running a school blog parallel with our website, and I once highjacked @mynictle 'bits and bobs', but this is me on my own and it's a tad scary!
@terryfreedman suggested that I should start one after a brief email about a current MA assignment I was working on. He suggested it would be the perfect forum to publish my own research. So here goes...

I've done a little digging around trying to answer the question 'why blog?' and actually the answer has been here all along. I read other people's blogs with interest, I love to hear about their experiences; their successes and failures. I love to pinch ideas and try them out myself. I also think it's a great way to escape the enclosure of the classroom.

I guess what I mean by that is that blogging gives you the opportunity to share and collaborate with other like-minded professionals and I miss that in teaching. I'm only been doing the job for less than two years - previously I was in publishing. I worked in a busy creative studio where you could bounce ideas off colleagues instantly. I find in teaching, there is very little time for collaborative reflection with colleagues in school. The school day is so packed, you rush from one lesson to the next, you might get ten minutes in the staffroom, but perhaps not everyone wants to spend their precious breaks discussing their new lesson ideas or pondering over their latest successes.

That's why blogging is great. It's an opportunity to be reflective - something every teacher should be. It's an opportunity to share - I've had some of my best lessons after reading a blog or catching an idea on Twitter. It's also an opportunity to chat with teachers and professionals who are doing what I think is the best job in the world.

I hope that through my blog I can continue to be a reflective teacher, share my successes and failures in the classroom (every good teacher should take a few risks) and perhaps pop my MA assignments up here for anyone who wishes to read them.

Any tips for being a good blogger will be gratefully received...



3 comments:

  1. Hi Emma - that's a great start! Tips? I don't think I'm in a position to give out much advice on blogging, but...
    Get the balance between Twitter & your blog right - make your own rules and stick to them - but review them after a while! It's a tool to reflect your own development, and it'll work best if it follows your conventions.
    If you think you're going to get a lot of comments, then think about adding something like Disqus or something similar to enable you to have some structure. If a post takes on a life of its own, standard Blogger comments can be a king-sized headache...
    Decide where any images or video you're going to include will be hosted, saves headaches and much faffage later
    If you're stuck for a useable image to illustrate a post, use CompFight for Creative Commons images - it always comes up with gold!
    Don't take odd comments personally - people just can't help it. With that in mind, maybe turn anonymous commenting off...?
    Hey, that's just my 10 Euros'-worth... all the best!

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  2. I've been blogging for 6 years, and my tips are: blog regularly, be honest, and follow your own rules. Also, swap links with other bloggers :)

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  3. I am so pleased to see you blogging, Emma! I am really looking forward to keeping up to date! Good on ya!

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