Part of my day (and work) involves reading blog posts. Reading is an important part of how I learn.
I especially love posts that entice me to share my reflections with others. Miss Klehn’s post on Doug – Off the Record is an example of this type of post — and it has nagged me.
Students in her pre-service teachers course won’t be aware –but I’ve been enjoying reading their reflections over the past 15 weeks.
This week’s task involved reading an educator’s blog and sharing their thoughts on the blog or blogger. The fascinating part of this task is the reflections of someone new to blogging is very different from more experienced bloggers.
Miss Klehn’s reflection on Doug – Off the Record’s blog were absolutely spot on and I wanted to use this opportunity to expand on the topic of personal educator blogs.
About Personal Educator Blogs
Educators use varying approaches to publishing on their personal blogs. Some only publish about their teaching practice, while others reflect on a wide range of topics from personal life, interests and hobbies, to their teaching practice.
The main reasons why educators have their own personal / professional blog includes:
- Share information and tips with other educators.
- Collaborate with a global audience. Increased collaboration with others leads to greater innovation and ideas, because each individual sees a different perspective – giving all involved greater “food for thought”!
- To reflect on their learning or their teaching /work practices.
- To create an ePortfolio to document teaching practice and professional development.
- To learn how to blog themselves, so they can use blogs more effectively with their students.
Educators like Doug publish posts because it is an important part of how they learn and how they reflect. He likes that others read his posts, but he would publish posts without an audience because it is an important part of his learning process.
Blogging Voice
Another aspect of blogging that we talk about is voice.
Doug’s blog is a good example of blogging voice. Doug has a very unique voice. He is passionate about what he blogs about and this comes through in his writing. Doug’s voice is why I enjoy reading his posts so much — they grab my attention and make me laugh.
Other examples of strong blogging voice are:
- George Couros
- Dean Shareski – My dog ate my digital homework still makes me laugh years later!
- Paul Bogush
You can tell who wrote the post without even looking at the author’s name.
I’ll admit – I feel reluctant talking about blogging voice to new bloggers! It can stifle new bloggers if they worry too much about developing voice. My advice to new bloggers is understand that some bloggers have unique blogging voices and focus on sharing what you want to share to satisfy your own personal needs.
And remember don’t be frightened to share your own reflections! Others will thank you.
Might be Obvious to you; Amazing to others!
Personal Taste
Subscribing to blogs is like reading a good book. We each have our own personal preferences in types of books we enjoy reading; as we do for blogs.
It takes time to work out the type of blogs you enjoy reading. Reading (and commenting) are an important part of the process of having your own personal educators blog.
Here’s my tips for reading posts:
- Subscribe to blogs using Feedly.
- Subscribe to hashtag searches and your social networks using Flipboard.
- The Edublog Awards provides lists to help find blogs you might enjoy reading.
What Else?
Looking for more information on personal or professional blogging? Check out our Teacher Challenge series with tips, ideas, and guides.
What are your thoughts? Did I miss anything?
I really found this blog interesting because it made me look at blogging in a totally different perspective. I used to only find blogs as people’s personal opinions and to be somewhat dry. I enjoyed reading about how bloggers can have different voices. I completely agree that everyone has a different style of writing and it really can depict who we are. This blog has inspired me to possibly look more into blogs and to maybe read them more often.
Hey Sue,
I think that this is a good summary. I feel like I come back to the question of ‘why blog’ continually and it feels like it is always changing. They only thing that I feel that you could have elaborated on is HOW to blog. People like Steve Wheeler have their recipe of image and text, while Amy Burvall’s posts are often very visual. Then you get someone like CogDog who seems to bounce around every different medium possible. This was the point that I tried to touch on my latest reflection on the matter: http://readwriterespond.com/?p=537 Could be wrong, but that is the fun of it all.
This is where tagging and categorizing become important tools for both the writer and reader. By using specific, well-chosen tags or categories writers provide their readers with an easier to follow “road map” to what they are seeking.
Blogging can be personal but it still provides the information to everyone.
Hello Sue,
I appreciate your insights on this. Blogging has provided personal benefits by deepening my knowledge and broadening my perspective. Transparently sharing my learning experiences provides others the opportunity to learn from, and with me. Collaborative projects have sprouted from blogging interactions. My question for you and your audience is; I use my blog as a professional learning portfolio, for reflective commentary, and for technology integration tips. Should I create separate blogs for these topics, or should I stay the course? I am concerned about misleading audiences with a variety of post topics. Thanks again for creating this inviting forum for learning. Bob – “Nocking the Arrow”
Yes, blogging is considered personal but it is not because the whole world can see what you are blogging.
I agree, blogging can be personal but it is read by others; so we must be respectful in what we post.
Thank you for sharing. I too like to read others blogs. I love to get ideas that I can share with others. That is what blogging is all about.
What a nice comment, to be included in such a wonderful post, Sue. I never thought of my “blogging voice” as you call it.
Given my past, totally immersed in mathematics, science, and computer sciences, I never would have guessed that I would have been the last person to be a blogger of sorts. When I left the classroom and became a district computer consultant, I needed a way to reach as many people as I could and started with a monthly newsletter before moving to blogging (which didn’t exist at the time). I killed many a tree getting copies of the newsletter out to all of our schools. When I look back at the archives, each newsletter looks like a collection of blog posts. It’s kind of funny, actually.
I did reply to the original post that you made reference to. Even if blogs had been available when I was in the classroom, I doubt that I would have created a “teaching” blog. I would, instead, have focuses on a “learning” blog. I think it gives you more latitude in terms of topics and commentary.
The biggest thing is something that we’ve always known in education. If you want to learn something well, teach it. By committing my learning to the blog, I think that it makes me look at a topic deeper than I would otherwise and it keeps me from forgetting it. I know that it’s around here….
On an organizational note, I appreciate the fact that you are supporting clients by reading and commenting on their blogs. That makes all the difference.