Educational Blogging

 Educational Blogging: What is it and Who Does it?

Educational blogging can refer to blogs created by teachers or students, but this post is focused on teacher blogs. Teachers of any and all subjects, age levels, or experience levels make blogs, and there are considerable benefits to sharing them. Blogs provide an opportunity for teachers to share what they are doing in their classroom, explaining what works and what doesn’t, which can provide great data for teachers looking to try a new strategy. They also give teachers a voice to talk about the problems they face in education, which is vitally important with the current political climate surrounding schools. The best blogs that have the most impact are ones with authors who freely share their opinions and experiences, and most importantly, write with passion and enthusiasm. One of the best parts about blogging is how easily accessible it is, with many great blog programs being completely free to use and access.

How a Blog can Change a Mind

A black laptop

One of my classmates Eden Marose created an educational blog that features a series of posts about charter schools with some fascinating insights. Her first post explained her own negative experiences with an oversaturation of charter schools in New Jersey that pulled resources from her public high school. Her second post gives a brief history of charter schools and explains how she thinks they could potentially be beneficial if they are held to the same standards as public schools. The third post in her charter schools “saga” shares her frustration at the politicized nature of charter schools. Coming from a rural area myself, I’ve never really been exposed to charter schools and although I knew that they were controversial, I didn’t really know why, since they sound great on paper. Her experiences really caught my attention and inspired me to do more research on charter schools.

Why I no Longer Hate Blogging

Blogging was never something I really envisioned myself doing. I’ve had school assignments in the past that had me create blogs for various topics, but I never enjoyed them and found myself dreading blog assignments whenever instructors mentioned them. Part of the problem I had with blogging assignments was that I was never given creative freedom to talk about topics that actually interested me, rather than what my teachers wanted me to write about. When I started this blog, I assumed that I would make a couple posts and never think about it again, but I found myself writing more and more every time I sat down. Having the freedom to write about my personal interests and opinions made blogging actually enjoyable. What really turned me to the side of blogging was reading Eden’s blog posts. I had no idea how charter schools could personally affect students who aren’t even enrolled in them. Blogs provide a platform for teachers to share their experiences and raise issues that are easily overlooked or misunderstood, which is vital in a profession that is so personal and influential. Students need teachers who are informed on what is going on in the world!