Days 22 to 24 of 30 Days to Being a Better Blogger

Day 22

Teach42 challenges us to answer the question, “Why do you blog?”

I decided when I retired that I would share my knowledge and expertise with new and struggling teachers. Since I felt I had a successful career, I thought others might like to know what I thought and strategies I had used that worked in the classroom. At first I felt like this was egotistical of me and I was kind of embarrassed about it. Then as I blogged, I read some comments and received some emails that encouraged me to continue to blog. I hope that I make it clear that what I share worked for me and doesn’t mean that it will necessarily work for every teacher out there. Because we have different teaching styles and personalities, everything I write about needs to be adapted to individual teachers in ways that work best for them. I have had some comments that what I did would not work and again, I have to tell people that teaching is not a “one size fits all” activity and what I did may not work for everyone. I have also gotten some emails from new teachers that had tried something I suggested and they were so thrilled about what a difference it had made in their classroom. When I get these messages, I feel like that I am contributing to my professional learning network as a way of giving back to all of the people who had helped me along the way.

Day 23

Teach42 challenges us to plan our blog. I am not a spur of the moment kind of person and tend to plan. I made it a goal to blog at least Monday through Friday. Since Blogger now has a scheduler, this makes it much easier especially since my husband and I like to travel. Even now as we are cruising, I am able to schedule a blog post for a later date in case I can’t get access to the internet or I don’t have time. I think having a regular schedule really makes it easier for my readers to know they can count on a post from me almost every weekday. Every Friday I like to share links to sites that I have found and liked. I also follow other bloggers who schedule a certain day for a certain kind of post.

Day 24

Teach42 challenges us to disclose ourselves.
“Do you have a Disclosure Statement on your blog already? If so, what does it include? Do you know of any other good examples amongst educators? Or non-educators for that matter! If you are creating one as part of this challenge, share a link to it in the comments below so we can learn from it as well.”

Since I am retired, I do not have to worry about anyone thinking my views are my employers so I’m lucky in that respect. But I do believe that people should disclose that they are getting paid to advertise or recommend something. I recommend sites that I like on Fridays but I do not get paid to recommend them and usually I email them after the fact to let them know that I linked to them in my post.

photo credit: Original image: 'Rosie the Blogger' http://www.flickr.com/photos/9106303@N05/2493066577by: Mike Licht