Hi everyone,
Another week down! Is it just me or is the year flying by?! Only six weeks until Christmas, and I keep thinking we’re still in September! I just don’t know where the time is going.
It’s a miserable Friday evening weather wise, and I am waiting for Tom to get home to bring me out to dinner- I have been cooking all week! I am also watching PLL-which has become incredibly frustrating.
Anyway, what is this post about you may ask? It’s not to inform you of my Friday evening pursuits, but to question the use and value of teacher blogs.
While perusing the internet, I clicked onto Education Posts out of habit. Now that I have a permanent job I don’t need to check it for jobs anymore, but old habits die hard! I came across a thread talking about the worth of blogs, and it made me think.
Are blogs/websites helpful? I think so. I started my blog two years ago just for myself- I never thought it would become so widely read. When I was studying with Hibernia I was always looking for advice from past students, and there was very little available on line. There was ‘A Crucial Week’ and ‘Anseo a Múinteoir’, and Anseo.net. I read every post on these blogs, and found if fascinating to read other teacher’s insights on teaching, and ideas they so kindly shared.
As my blog expanded I like to think I helped a few teachers as much as I could. I have responded to hundreds of queries and questions over the past two years, I have shared ideas , prizes and resources, but the best part for me was getting to meet other teachers this summer at the seminars, that was really fun. Blogging does take up time, but not too much. My facebook page is a more casual space than my website. I love my website-I treat it like a first born child! The Facebook page is less important- I share teacher memes, some photos and links, but that’s it really. (Oh and puppy photos lately- sorry about those!) I regularly read other teacher blogs. Some are excellent, others not so much. I guess it depends on what you are looking for. I personally am always looking for lesson ideas and displays. I have four blogs which I check every day, and that’s plenty for me.
I truthfully can’t see anything too negative about educational blogs. I know during the summer around fifty various ‘Múinteoir —-‘ blogs popped up- and it even started to irritate me, there were just too many! But I think you can narrow down the true bloggers who genuinely want to help others and care about their work to around five or six. I think others were a passing fancy as teachers became bored over the summer.
Lately, people contacted me asking would I stop blogging now that I have a permanent job! Absolutely not! I didn’t blog as a means to getting a job- I do it because I enjoy it- and I will continue to write, as long as you continue to read my posts!
Either way, if any teacher wants to take the time and energy to set up a blog, then they shouldn’t be ‘hated on’ to use the vernacular. I do think that teachers, should err on the side of caution when posting online. We should remain 100% professional at all time- we don’t want to bring our profession into disrepute. It’s important to remember that.
What do you think? Are blogs of any true worth?
Valerie