This is my very first post on my very first teacher blog. Thank you all for dropping by :-). My blogging experience began 2 years ago when I first started a class blog for my students. Over these years, I and my students discovered what a wonderful educational experience blogging can be; we discovered that extending the walls of the classroom and opening up a window to the world can broaden your horizons and make you a more connected, reflective, and active learner (well, more about the benefits of class blogging on another post, perhaps).
I’d been thinking of starting my teacher blog for a year now, but there was always a good reason to put me off. Among the most popular ones there was always a lack of time, nervousness about exposing my views online, and, doubts about its effectiveness for me. You see, I’ve been writing and reflecting on a regular basis since I started my MA; working on assignments, researching, sharing views in forums, and collaborating with coursemates have become part of my life. I’ve also been on Twitter for two years and enjoy interacting with my wonderful PLN. I participate on #ELTchat (a magic discussion among educators taking place on Twitter every Wednesday), sharing and learning with like minded educators from all around the world. What extra value will blogging add to me as a teacher? What extra value will I add to the blogging world?
After lurking on the fringes of the blogosphere for too long, I just felt I needed to make my thinking and learning more transparent. I felt the need to write about what’s going on in my classes, what worked or didn’t work, what tech tools I used and the impact this had on my students; what conventions and workshops I attended and the impact this had on me. After all, ideas can only take shape when you put them out there and share them with others…
So, as I challenge my students to reach new heights and challenge themselves, I’ve just decided to set myself a 12-month personal challenge of evaluating the impact of blogging on me as a teacher. I’m not setting the bar too high expecting myself to write groundbreaking stuff or very frequently. I do expect, however, that blogging will help me:
- Crystallise my thinking
- Reflect on my teaching and learning
- Enjoy the experience
- Share
- Become a better teacher
Will blogging help me achieve all this? Will I end up loving it? Perhaps, but I guess you can’t truly know what something is like unless you get your feet wet, right? I’m well aware that having a blog is considered to be essential to teachers’ growth and improvement; but, just like we don’t use a “one size fits all” approach to education we should not expect all teachers to reflect, share and develop in the same way either. But I’ve heard so many wonderful blogging teachers vouching for its effectiveness that I can’t help thinking they just can’t be wrong. Here’s to a year of discovery and learning, then 🙂
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