Should you be blogging?
Should you be blogging?
Well, of course, I’d say that you should be blogging because you have assignments. (Just to clarify, each week you are required to respond to my entries on this blog. A reminder that you need to have your Edublog set up and have your first post written by midnight Tues. You have until Thursday to respond to my daily posts.)
But what about after this class is over? Should learning professionals be blogging? This post has links to prominent edubloggers and their take on the question. What are they saying are the advantages to blogging? What do you think?
Prompt
In the comments section, please list some of the reasons why you should blog or some reasons why you shouldn’t be blogging. If you’d like some inspiration, read Tony Karrer’s post on the top ten reasons why you should or shouldn’t blog.
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When I think about Blogging these days, I keep telling myself that by setting up a Blog, I’ll increase my communication with parents and students. Communication is not my strength. If I set up a Blog the parents have no excuse to not be up to date on what is going on in class. This will make me a stronger teacher. The down side to Blogging will be when I forget to post what is going on in class. Then the parents will complain and then I have to listen to my administrator lecture me.
I can think of several reason why I should be blogging. One thing that came up over and over again on the posts I’ve been reading on this question is that it’s probably the hottest new way to bounce your ideas off of other teachers. If you can handle some constructive criticism, it can be a way to fine-tune and expand your ideas. I also like the idea of using it at a tool to communicate with students and their parents. Let’s face it, when you really look at it, blogging is downright empowering.
Why shouldn’t I be blogging? I can’t think of any good reason why I shouldn’t blog aside from the fact that what I have to say isn’t all that interesting (at least to me). I think the main thing holding me back from blogging outside this class is time. That may be a cop-out, but it’s true. If I didn’t have to blog as part of the requirements for this program, I probably wouldn’t be blogging. But I think the more experience I have using this tool the more likely I will find ways to incorporate it into my teaching.
Just like my Second Life avatar’s adventures… the jury is still out on the issue of blogging. Right now visiting most blog sites is overwhelming. Learning takes place some of the time, but much of my time is wasted reading someone’s ranting and raving views on a subject with no real content. Some of the best blog sites I have visited are resource-sharing blogs. Not only do they share useful pertinent resources and educational information, they also help me stay up to date with the latest in emerging technologies.
But just like all the important daily emails I receive that need a personally response, it takes time away from the important work that we need to accomplish each day, that is, working to meet the needs of our students. Not everyone feels comfortable publishing their work on the web, it takes much more time because it is reviewed by “the world” instead a handful of peers. In the world of education we need to find a happy medium. Perhaps using blogs to stay up-to-date and informed and to learn to use them for curriculum resource repositories. Using an intranet to post a student blog is an idea that is of interest to me because the idea of being “published” may excite a student enough to actually improve their writing skills.
I have created a blog site for our Promethean Users’ Conference (training camp) this summer. I have four “experts” authoring posts and answering questions. The posts include resources and ideas for creating 21st century learning environments for students. I am monitoring the use of the blog and I will survey the comments, evaluating how the teachers respond to the posts and their corresponding questions about other issues they may encounter during the training. The conference evaluation form will include a question asking teachers to comment about the use of the blog. If the outcome is as positive as the initial responses about the project, then I will create more educationally relevant blogs for training purposes and collaboration among educators.
I could sound really technologically hip and say I blog every day. But it’s just a calendar for my class, so I don’t believe that really counts. And I take weekends and summer off, so how committed am I, really?
I’m pretty sure I should fight the urge to regularly blog. I figure people who blog either A. Have something to say, B. Think they have something to say, or C. Have too much time on their hands. I might have a few things to say, but not more than once a week, and when I find the time it would only be about once a month. Then I would feel guilt that I should be blogging more. That’s the biggest reason I don’t have a dog. Actually, the biggest reason I don’t have a dog is that I don’t want people driving down the street to see me grabbing warm dog excrement with a plastic bag. But the second reason is the guilt, the guilty eyes telling you that “you should be taking him for a walk rather than typing out your blog.” So at any rate, I’m not an optimist, and I like to emphatically tell myself that I am not a pessimist, so I use the label “realist,” which basically means that I am hopeful but not disappointed when those hopes are dashed to bits on the sharp, merciless rocks of life’s brutality. See there now? Just as I feared– cynicism has seeped out in just the comment portion of a blog, not even a blog itself. So my trepidation with blogging is well-founded– that regular blogging would bring out the worst in me.
I think I’m most intrigued by using classroom blogs both as venues for guided literature discussions and for communication with students and parents. I am one of those who fears not being able to keep up with an ideas based blog due to lack of time. Knowing me, I’d post a few mediocre ideas on an edublog, maybe get one reader who would then be disappointed that there were no more posts forthcoming. But used as a forum of discussion in my classroom, or to post assignments and communicate, I might feel more motivated to keep up to date on my end even when I feel swamped with my other day to day responsibilities.
Blogging is a form of reciprocal communication that, to me, works better than email since you can post your discussion for others to follow and chime in on. For me, the reason to blog is because it is a system that is familiar to our students and to others in this digital age. It’s like a community bulletin board but more interactive. I have found that with kids this is an especially powerful piece of a curriculum. Students that were previously nervous to write hard copy simply flew when it came to online blogs. As a class, my students utilized blogging for communication between one another regarding literature and science projects. They would make daily or weekly postings in regards to a prompt or based on a prompt of their own making. Better yet, I used my teacher blog as the center point to numerous activities that they could work on at school and home. I also made my blog a personal destination for them when they were outside of school. To me this is why you blog. It allows for increased communication with your students and the chance to really allow for expression on any topic. I’ve used it for science, social studies, language arts and even counseling sessions. It’s also helped a great deal with our writer’s workshops. The whole point is to make that connection and for today’s students blogs might just be that link.
As for teacher to teacher discussions, I doubt anything beats getting together for coffee or a beer and hammering it out, but blogs will allow educators to communicate at their own leisure. I know everyone here on the board has major time crunches to deal with during the school year so being able to communicate at a time of your choosing is valuable. I think blogs can work and professional educator blogs even more so. It’s simply a matter of getting it out there. I think I’m going to begin a weekly blog email to my school highlighting a specific blog that deals with a professional educator issue. Most people don’t know about it but would be willing to try it if they were given help and directions.
It was interesting to read that most of the bloggers’ opinions were that blogging is just not for everyone. It does not suit everyone’s learning style, there is a fear factor that not everyone can overcome, time…many reasons. On the other hand, blogging is inherently reflective, which is good for learning. It is a great personal learning tool (for those who consider it to be so), it has immediacy, it is writing, it is good for community building with people of common interests, it is discussion/conversation, it is even thought to be good for your health! Lots of good reasons to blog.
I can see both sides and I would agree that it is not going to be the best medium for everyone. As for me, I am not a blogger yet, but I am open to it. I can see it taking a good deal of time. I think if I could find the right blogs to read I would. And like they all said, those who write blogs also read blogs…I’m sure it works the other way around too!
I do agree that blogging is not for everyone. I personally do not enjoy writing blogs. Mostly because I have only had to do them for classes and it always feels so forced and awkward. I do not subscribe to any blogs either, but I am not against them. Maybe they’re not for me. However, I do think they can be useful in the classroom and I’d like to implement one this upcoming school year. Kids will get into them.
Blogging is an interesting and interactive way to get students involved and excited about learning. I believe it is a powerful tool to use in the classroom, something all students can do and take pride in doing.
I think blogging is so great because people blog about every topic under the sun you can find blogs about things you are interested in that you would have never or had a difficult time locating people with the same unique interests.
For me I think blogging is fun and a great way to keep the parents in my classroom connected in a more informal way. Also it is great to stay connected with friends and relatives who may be far away. I at times have a difficult time with blogging because I find I can be very interested in it at first keeping it up to date and then after a while the novelty wears off and I start to forget.
I am sure the day will come when everyone is blogging:)
I think one of the best reasons to blog is to share information and experiences. Without tools like blogging, interaction is limited to the people we know or come into contact with, which means our access to information is limited. Blogging infinitely expands our access to information resources.
I don’t know if there’s really any reason someone shouldn’t blog, unless doing so takes time away from more important things in that person’s life, such as family. Otherwise, what’s the harm? Even if you don’t have anything to say that most people would find interesting or meaningful, so what? If you want to say it, go for it.
I find the question itself annoying. The “big question”? Really? “Should all learning professionals be blogging?” Have we sunk so low as a species that such trivial discussions points suitable for filling up dead air on some local learning channel is called a big question? Oh well, the Internet excels at spreading minutiae, (some of it is even factual), so we all must play our part.
Of course, there is very little that all learning professionals should be doing, and certainly blogging does not fit into that diminutive category. There are valid reasons to do it, (though the worry about whether your “too lame” to do it or not should not be one of them), but the fact is that 95% of human communication is simply filler, and the usefulness of the other 5% is open to debate. No matter the medium, whether it is the human voice, printed word, or motion pictures, the vast majority of it is spilled into the ether in a desperate, yet hopeful attempt to fight against the void within ourselves. Blogging is not different; we scream to be heard, but our volume does not make our ideas any more important.
Of course, without communication, what is there left? We must share ideas and we must constantly be on the lookout for the ideas of others that we can incorporate into our own identity. Blogging is obviously useful for this. It doesn’t matter, in the end, if you have nothing important to say to the rest of the world. What does matter is that you have a vehicle to express yourself, and a blog can be a safe, comfortable place to do that. The rest of the planet, or at least those of us that are hooked up to the pipes that apparently constitute the Internet, just have to wade through the flotsam and jetsam in a (usually) fruitless attempt to find the few sparkling treasures that lie hidden there.
Should I be blogging? I suppose if I believed the answer to that was ‘Yes’ then I would already be doing it….which I am not really doing…..yet…..
I have blogged about 4 times in my life so far. 3 of them were for class assignments, and the other time was right after we had our house painted. I posted some pix and a few paragraphs about how it went and then sent the link to a few family members. They called me on the phone to say how nice my house looked.
I like the idea about having the freedom, anonymity, and server space to post whatever, whenever, and wherever, but I don’t feel the sense of purpose to do so. I suppose my world is very small compared to others in that I have colleagues and friends (many of whom fit into both categories) and family, but no real sense of online community (except for my Ed Tech Classes…)
UPDATE:
After reading all the comments here and really focusing on the word “BLOG” for about 30 minutes now, I have just remembered something from my teenage years…There was this guy who was a few years older than me named Tom Brill. He had a rather large shock of bright read hair on his head and was, early in life, nicknamed ‘Brillo’. Well, that became passe and my friend Matt and I used to make fun of him a lot about how dumb and fat he was and all the cruel adolescent stuff that usually goes on (all while he wasn’t around because he was older and bigger than we were…). Well, darn it if I didn’t just now remember that we used to call him “BLOG” as our made-up nickname. Who knew???
GregJ
P.S. I think I just blogged….
I think blogging is great as long as there is a specific purpose. In the classroom, collaborating, and sharing tips is a great way to blog. One thing I really am not a fan of is blogging about myself. I read blogs on a daily basis. Once I figured out how to set up my igoogle page for blogs, I was set! Now my biggest concern is how to limit the number of blogs I subscribe to.
This year year, my goal will be to implement a blog in at least one of my classes. I mentioned it to my classes and some of them were really excited to do responses that way versus the pen and paper way. I’m sure there are downsides to doing work this way, but if it gets the students excited, I’m willing to give it a try!
I think that whether or not a teacher should blog or not depends greatly upon the audience. If most parents and students do not have access to computers or the Internet, why blog unless it’s to other teachers? I work in an environment where (a) most of my parents and students do not have access to computers and (b) many parents do not speak English. Blogging for my current students wouldn’t make any sense.
I do see a lot of value for teachers who work with students and parents who have computer access. Blogging is a great forum for communication. I think it’s too much to do every single day, but perhaps once a week would be worthwhile. My nephew gets all of his homework assignments off his teacher’s blog. It’s great because his mom can also monitor whether or not he has turned in the assignment. He lives in an affluent neighborhood where households have multiple computers, and most students have laptops and Blackberries in middle school. It’s a different world from where I work, that’s for sure.
Educational technology is amazing; however, unless schools can provide computers, Internet, and training to areas of need, blogging is not useful. I’d love to communicate via blogs with my students, but it’s not possible at this time, and probably won’t be any time in the near future.
To blog or not to blog…. I think it is a good idea and I am excited to begin a project in creating a second grade edublog for my entire team. I am hoping this will help with communication among students, teachers, parents and staff. This is exciting for me because I have been working at a school prior to this year comprised of students and parents who did not have access to the computer or an email address. I enjoy email and blogging and this was hard for me especially when I started this program. I am looking forward to trying this project out with a new school and we shall see how it goes!
It is sometimes hard for me to keep up with my blogs due to family commitments and what not, but I do my best.
Should We Blog?
As the world around us evolves, so must the educational field. As a teacher I am constantly seeing the change in which students, teachers and parents communicate (homework emails, access grades online, and email correspondence with parents). This is a product of our ever-changing environment. The computer, with the Internet, has become our source and avenue for entertainment, educating and information. The use of blogs is part of the evolution. So, should we blog? It may not be for some of us. But if I was a betting man, it will be second nature to our future students.
I read blogs about several different topics that interest me. But, because I am long winded and glittery objects distract me easily, blogging is too time consuming to do myself. Then again, I am also a person who enjoys looking for ways to use new technologies efficiently in my classroom, and have decided to use my blog in a few different ways. My blog posts will remind me of the glittery objects that distract me on the web, and how I might use them in the future. If my students see a post about what I’m considering using or doing, they might give me some feedback and even better resources. I am also going to use the posts. I may also post blogs about assignments so students can respond. And my students will be using blogs for their student journals. I have 16 computers for 30 students in my digital art and photography classroom and last year all my students had computers at home, though only 87% had access to the internet at home. So the environment supports a technology heavy curriculum. In another school, or with a different student population, my choices would change. The benefits have to be greater than the effort.
Should I be blogging?
I think I should be blogging my educational experiences when I have something valuable to offer to the world. This doesn’t happen everyday, however. Working in Comet has provided me ample new experiences, so I have enjoyed posting when I learn new tools and technologies. My biggest concern, however, is that I am blogging, but nobody is reading or interested.
This leads me to my next thought. Blogging is kind of like shouting in a crowded room. Who is really listening? It probably offers some sort of “journal-like” feelings of self-validation, but I just don’t think anybody cares.
My other experience is that sometimes I choose to blog when I really should be grading papers, working on assignments for Comet, or playing with my kids in the sandbox. So, it must be weighed against what really matters in life. Sometimes it is important, other times it is not.
So, final thoughts are this:
Edu-blogging is good if:
1.) People actually read and give feedback on your blog. Other peers or students would provide validation and insight to posts.
2.) You have something worthwhile to write.
3.) Blogging doesn’t take away from the really important activities in life. I don’t think the “virtual” should ever replace the “actual”.
I’ve discussed blogging quite a bit with my colleagues. We keep having grand schemes of what we’d like to do with blogging to share great things we see in the classroom, but when it comes down to it, our plan never materializes. I think the reason is that we tend to be so busy with all of our duties as it is and fall behind. Another worry that I have personally is that we will spend all of this time putting stuff out there that no one will ever look at. My other worry is that I won’t have enough interesting to say. I tend to be one of those people that looks at a blank piece of paper, or a freshly created blog in this case, and think wow just think of all of the wonderful things this could be turned into. Then I feel too much pressure to do something cool and don’t follow through. So I guess I am lame, a scared little wuss, and I fear no one will read what I said as Tony Karrer suggested.
I do think it is something that I need to commit to doing even if on a smaller scale than I envision because the kind of reflection on your work that blogging generates is definitely something I could benefit from. I also agree with Tony Karrer that teaching professionals have a responsibility to share their knowledge base with others rather than staying cooped up in their own rooms doing things their way with no one knowing how they do it. So many teachers have incredible styles, ideas, etc. that would benefit others. I think I certainly have a perspective to share, so I ought to go ahead and do it.
I haven’t considered blogging because I don’t feel that I have anything all that interesting to talk about. It’s a one way conversation, or an asynchronous one at best, and I guess that I prefer to IM or actually talk to other humans.
I have used a blog as a communication tool with students to get their feedback about a Geometer’s Sketchpad project. It worked well and was a great way to share student’s enthusiasm with other teachers.
I definitely believe that I should be blogging with my class. I started to midway through the last school year, but my momentum slowed down. I had started to post questions to engage my kids more in history, such as: Who do you think is the most qualified candidate? Many of my students really appreciated that I was interested in their opinions because they knew I was taking them seriously. It was a great forum for those students who are very much interested in the subject.
I feel as though it is a great way to communicate interesting news stories to my students as well.
As far as communicating with other colleagues though, I do not feel as though I have anything relevant to say at this point. I am constantly trying to get ahead, but I don’t have anything “new” to say. If I was posting a blog to my colleagues, I feel as though my blog would just become an online journal. I would just be reflecting on things I had done instead of sharing anything beneficial to others.
To blog or not to blog…
yes-
-you have something to share
-you are passionate about a certain topic
-you like to share, even when nobody is listening
-professional reasons
no-
-venting (in a mean way)
-trashing people
-gossip
I read an article today in Time magazine about commenting-you know on blogs and webpages. It said that people tend to start out cordial and then get more rude and mean as the posting circulates. it said that people are less inhibited because of the anonimity of the internet. I don’t know about you but I would still feel bad if I knew my comments hurt someone else’s feelings (a woman in the article quit her job because she just couldn’t take all the negative comments)-doesn’t seem worth it.
Well we all have so much to share these days. The creepy thing is how much is too much? I don’t know, I started my first blog and I know none of my friends read it. It’s as if I’m the only one using it. Then I made a Photo Story for my son’s kinder class and other parents wanted it, so I told them I would upload it to my blog. Then I realized, I didn’t want parents at my son’s private, catholic school reading my personal posts, looking at my fun pictures and reading my rants and raves. So that’s when I had to create another blog, specifically for his class. It’s been set-up for about two months and doesn’t seem to have a lot of action. It’s as if parents are afraid to participate. I guess it’s not for everyone.
I know blogging is for me. I love the open forum and it’s fun. The hard part is logging on and keeping it current.
I really want to try this approach with my third grade class this year. Just want to figure it all out first.
Blogging is a great way of communication, that and texting. Oh and I can’t forget my favorite, Google Chat. There are so many outlets of communication nowadays, Blogging being one of them. I will try to keep up and not say TOO much.
In short, yes. I should be blogging. First, it can be a way to communicate and set up a forum for students, teachers and parents to share ideas and be on the (web)page. I have used blogging as a way to reflect on what went on in class, and this can be used by parents to keep track of class and students to review ideas. The challenge is to get into the routine of doing it every day and not falling behind. Students can get turned on to learning and I had shy students really become vocal through the use of the web, but when I did not post, their interest dropped. I think if I were to do it daily, it will become habit for students to review class concepts. Blogging can also become an extension of the PLC (the big push in Education based on the work from Rick DuFour). Teachers can find a few minutes to post and comment when they may not have the time to walk across campus for a meeting at lunch. I see the potential for blogging to help in the preparation of PLC discussion as well as follow up.
I plan to continue blogging and to offer different approaches to help my students. The way I see it, if 1, 2 or a handful of students benefit and grow as a result of the blog, then it is worth my effort for that student (imagine if it was your child).
I’m gonna have t go with the “yes and no”answer to the question. First off, as the technology teacher at my school, i most definitely should be blogging, as that is a current medium for transferring information electronically. However, I should not, as I don’t think I would be very current in actually posting daily or even close to it.
A few of the blogs noted what I chose to summarize as the top three reasons for blogging:
1) Personal learning
2) Medium for an informal exchange of ideas
3) Receive feedback
All of these are invaluable. However, I do see the point of view of some of the bloggers who posted that we all shouldn’t be or don’t need to be blogging. Basically what we need to do is really reflect on what is occurring or what we are trying to teach. Blogging is an excellent way to do this, tough not the only way to complete this reflection process.
I would like to see my staff do some blogging regarding our new Systematic ELD and how it wi working for them. I should be blogging about how I am implementing technology in my class, just for my colleagues to collaborate on how we can use the stuff we have more often and more efficiently.
I feel that blogging is worthless if you don’t have a focus or point. Many bogs that I read just go on an on. It’s like they want to show what good writers are.
A successful blog is one that gives you new information or sparks your thinking quickly and efficiently. Hardly anyone chunks their blogs or responses so they are difficult to read on screen. I noticed that there aren’t even any formatting options for the comment. Hmmm.
Blogging is great because it:
1. allows you to get more personal with your group
2. Gives shy people a chance to speak which they may not do in person
3. Improves writing ability
4. Allows people to work at their own pace
Downfalls of blogging:
1. Young students have to be taught blogging “etiquette”
2. Time needs to be spend on proper writing skills
(continued)
Blogging allows for the exchange of ideas and decreases the learning curve as you can learn from other’s successes and failures.
A downfall to this site, however, I noticed I can’t go back to a comment and edit it. I am also not able to paste a comment that I copied from a word document. Does anyone have suggestions? This is, after all, the format needed to exchange such successes.
Blogging- If I was a really good blogger, I would not be responding to this blog so late in the session…… Honestly, I don’t have time right now to blog about anything. I have a family and a full-time tech job. I send all day with teachers and computers and when i get home the last thing I feel like doing is sitting down at the keyboard. This is sad as I really did like the computer world and the internet when I was teaching in the classroom. Now I spend my days making machines work. All said though, I can see a great educational use of blogs for students young and old. How can any non-threatening exchange of ideas be a bad thing.