Why Educators Blog: The Challenges, Benefits And Tips For Getting Started

Last week we launched a year-long blogging series where educators blog together weekly around a common topic or theme.

Prompt #1 focused on My Blog story and its aim was to help participants get to know each other better.

This is a summary post of what we’ve learned from everyone’s stories!  You’ll find links to every My Blog Story at the bottom of the post.

Blogging Challenges

There are lots of barriers that keep us from blogging and the ones shared with us include:

• Time challenges….balancing work commitments with family and personal life.
• Blogging and sharing online makes me feel uncomfortable.
• Desire for perfection.
• Fear I have nothing worth saying.
• Unsure of what to write about.
• Struggle to decide the direction I would like to take my blog.  What to share?
• What do I have to offer?  There are so many excellent educator blogs.
• Fear nobody will be interested in what I say.
• My ignorance will be exposed.
• I struggle with writing and worry it won’t have the character, charm, or voice I often see in popular educator’s blogs.

Benefits of Blogging

Yet benefits absolutely outweigh the challenges and the ones shared include:

• Blogging helps reflect — and reflecting on teaching practices is one of the best ways to improve.
• Changes how I learn.
• I developed a personal learning network — connecting with other educators who help and support my learning.
• Helped me become a better writer.
• Gave me a voice and mechanism to share my thoughts and help others.
• Can lead to career opportunities including travel, authoring books, conference presentations, and new job roles.
• Blogging has helped me define myself and has encouraged me to believe my voice matters.
• Sharing what we were learning in class with families made it a more transparent classroom which improved communication, awareness, and overall student success.
• Students benefited from informal writing on their blogs and exchanging comments.  I was able to work through all aspects of digital citizenship as part of the blogging process.

Blogging Goals

Goals for participating in the #EdublogsClub included:

• Get into the habit of blogging consistently.
• Improve my writing skills.
• To become comfortable with putting my thoughts out there.
• Create deeper connections with educators around the World.
• Decide what I want to share and what’s important to me.
• Help me clarify the purpose and audience of my blog.
• Find my voice.
• Engage in more conversations in comments with my readers.
• To do and experience what I am asking my students to do when I ask them to blog.
• Help me develop professionally and allow me to be better organized.
• Find effective ways to keep up with reading other blogger’s posts.

Blogging Tips

And the more experienced bloggers shared their tips!

Below are quotes of our favorite tips or inspirational statements!

We couldn’t include all their tips so have linked their name to their posts so you can check them out.

Justine Hughes

Just jump in and enjoy.  Don’t be afraid to share your ideas. You’ll find that everyone is really supportive and encouraging, particularly if they’ve joined a challenge such as this one.  You’ll be surprised by the feedback conversations and connections that develop.  Don’t feel that it has to be an ‘academic standard’ essay-type exercise.  Think of it more as a conversation with other like minds. 🙂

Jo Prestia

I’m proud to say I have a little following and every now and then I get feedback. However, I don’t write to get comments or praise (though it is nice!). I just write because I like it. It helps me think – in writing.

Michelle Pacansky-Brock

I have made mistakes. And I’ve learned from them. But I’m still here. I’m still blogging. And I’m still learning. And that is something I hope all educators strive to model for students.

Robert Schuetz

I started blogging with the hope of initiating some sort of revolutionary change in education. What I’ve learned is blogging is much more satisfying when I just write for myself.

Sue Wyatt

You need to become a connected educator for blogging to succeed. Read other people’s blogs, leave tweets about posts you have written, and connect with other teachers who also blog.

Dan Gallagher

Keep blogging, even if you don’t believe someone is reading, because you never know who is or will be reading. I have on several occasions returned to past posts to recall what I did to set up a workflow or try to remember a tool I recommended a ways back which might help one of my teachers now.

Damianne President

The advice that I would give my younger self would be to blog regularly and to engage with colleagues, the community of bloggers, and Twitter chats for ideas to blog about.

 Lyn Hilt

My advice for new bloggers is to write for YOU. Don’t write for page views. Don’t write for RTs. Write to share your ideas, to reflect, to ponder. Write to unleash your creative spirit. Write to make a difference. Schedule time in your day to write. Write every day, something, somewhere. You don’t always have to click publish. Don’t be discouraged if you hit a lull or encounter writer’s block. I used to blog several times a month, and now I’m lucky if I blog several times a year. Life happens, responsibilities shift…. your blog is a space you can always call home and it will welcome you back with open arms when needed.

Luis

One of the fears of many bloggers: having posts with no comments. Most, if not, all bloggers have had blog posts that have not received a comment. Don’t let this be something that demotivates you. Most of those blog posts are still read by a lot of visitors. I’ve had a lot of blog posts that have not received comments but I know that they have been viewed by many visitors

Sue Waters

Make it a goal to read and comment on as many of the posts as possible.  You learn as much, if not more, by reading/commenting as writing your posts and it helps generate ideas for things to blog about.

And don’t forget — what is obvious to you is amazing to others.  Don’t assume others know what you know.  There is always someone who will be grateful for what you shared — even if they don’t necessarily tell you.

Don’t Forget to Comment

Remember blogging is about connecting with others!

Visit the #EdublogsClub participant’s posts to leave feedback and comments on as many as you can.

We’ve included links to all My Blog Story submitted so far below to make it easier:

Alicia Anselmo Benassi Amontgomery Bill Clarke Cindy Cheryl Cyndi Dan Gallagher David Emily Harriet Ridolfo

Jane Lofton Jenny R Jo Prestia Joanna Lemoine Justine Hughes Lisa Suhr Lucinda Wolters Lyn Hilt Melanie

Melinda Michelle Pacansky-Brock Michelle Raunch Mike D Penny Christensen Rachel Labossiere Robert Schuetz Sarah Valter Stef Sue Waters Tamara Tara