Thinking about Blogs

Airy images, staged settings and decadent food comes to mind when I think blogging. Influencers world wide telling tales of white sandy adventures and mojito mornings where nothing is ever as it seems and everyone is different than the image they portray. Sponsored links appear on social media sites hanging proverbial carrots in front of the noses of people seeking escape through the unattainable lives of influence bloggers who are paid for every click. Thousands of these blogs exist, and they have clouded my judgement and desire to seek out real and valuable blogs. In a world of internet celebrities and million dollar moguls whose fortunes are made through preset images of staged moments in the lives I wonder, can a real, raw and unfiltered teaching blog compete? And, who is reading anyways?!

What might make sifting though the plethora of uninspiring, are the blogging gems that do encourage, inspire and share. A.J. Juliani makes an important point about blogging that I had not considered: "Blogging will always matter because we will always have to learn from each other". This is especially true for teachers. Teachers must always be learning and growing and sharing so that we can be the educators that our students deserve. If we stop sharing with others we close ourselves off from the potential for so much growth and improvement. If blogging is an avenue for growth potential I should be open to what it has to teach me! Matt Miller of Ditch that Textbook encourages blogging as a method for self reflection. A committed blogger is able to "file" their stream of consciousness and enjoy the benefit of these reflections at another time. I believe that reflecting can benefit everyone and certainly teachers can learn from their own past experiences. Put this way, I can see the benefit to blogging as a teacher. George Couros suggests in his blog that teachers could add blogging as a part of their teaching routine, during reading time in the classroom or at other opportune times throughout the day. This approach certainly increases the appeal of blogging when time is limited and finding extra isn't always possible. It seems that there is value in blogging and approaching this technology with a growth mindset could benefit my developing practice. At the very least, blogging serves as a time capsule that preserves moments in time, and I am sure these would be fun to uncover years down the road!

#EDTS #whenIgettothinking #blogreflections #firstblog