I have always enjoyed looking at blogs other people have written, but with the task of actually becoming a blogger, I am not sure the best approach. It is exciting but also a little concerning, because of how public blogging is. What if my principal reads this? What if that parent who disagrees with my teaching strategies finds my blog? What if this actually becomes popular?!
Last year, I had a student who was "famous" on social media. She would post frequent video clips and pictures that would make people laugh, and before I knew it, my freshmen were explaining to me that this senior was a "big deal". I was amazed at this student's creativity that she used to express herself online and also surprised at how fast things could spread. She had tens of thousands of followers, which was both good and bad.
I asked this student if she had a blog or if she knew anything about blogs, as I had been thinking about making one. So many things happen at school that I want to share, both good and bad. This student was a study hall tutor in my room so she and I shared a lot of these experiences. We always talked about how funny it would be to write these stories on the Internet, and decided a blog would be best. However, as we continued to talk about this idea, we realized the cons outweighed the pros, and dropped it. While this idea could certainly get a lot of reactions and popularity, it was not worth it in case the anonymity failed.
Here I am, a year later, exploring about blogs and discovering through experience. I am learning about linking in blogs, creating a blog, and making this something that represents me. As someone who considers herself to be relatively selfless, I am most struggling with the notion that this blog is about me. In my opinion, if I want to share things with people, I do! I share them with friends and family. Is it necessary to post my life online? I do not think so, but it is pretty popular on numerous social media sites. Therefore, I am going to try my best to make this blog a combination of my learning, my teaching experience, and everything else going on in my ITS program. (There it is again, the word "my" in every part! ha!)
Your story of a high schooler having such a successful blog really demonstrates the power that blogs can have. What an amazing experience for her to have her ideas being seen, but it is too much of an ego boost for a teenager? I teach seniors, and several of my students have blogs. I really admire them for their ability and desire to share their thoughts with others. It definitely takes courage. I have read blogs from teens that truly demonstrate higher level thinking. As a beginning blogger myself, I am so impressed with these students.
ReplyDeleteI am struggling with the same feeling you are about sharing my life with people I do not know and wondering if anyone would even care what I have to say! It is a scary thought! I am hoping like you that blogging about the ITS program will give me a safe topic of conversation to begin my journey in blogging!
ReplyDeleteI have to ditto what Madison and you are both describing. How public do I want my presence on the Internet to be?
ReplyDeleteI have decided to keep it pretty professional. That is I will share philosophies, strategies, lesson plans, reflections, and events that illustrate teaching and learning in my classroom - both the successes and those ... not so much. I also thought about references by initials not names. What do you think?!
Hey Laura
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about putting my entire life out there on the internet. I've had some pretty awful experiences with social media and now I'm not even on FB. I like the idea of keeping your blog professional and sharing lessons while reflecting on the good and the not so good parts of a lesson.