Perhaps you are one of the many educators that regularly writes their own blog or participates in a collaborative effort to inform. If not, it’s never too late to dive in!
Still on the fence? Here are a few motivators:
1. Relevance.
Participating in the online community keeps you up to date on what’s going on your profession and in the world. Usually people need to do a little research before they can discuss concepts intelligently — keeping a current blog is a great way to force yourself to keep up with the rest of the world.
2. Control.
What better way is there to make an impact on the world than to participate in it? Not only are blogs wonderful forums to exchange ideas — they are also useful for coming to new understandings.
3. Collaboration
By participating in the blogging world, you will be forming new relationships and, as educators, you have the ability to collaborate not only with your colleagues but with other educators around the country and around the world.
4. Originality.
Your unique perspective will be different than anyone else’s. Don’t underestimate your ability to be an original.
5. Coolness.
As an educator — and a person, you can’t discount how cool it is to be able to direct people to your own personal blog.
6. Catharsis.
It’s healthy to get rid of things. That’s not to say that blogging is venting — because it can be detrimental to write emotionally in a public forum — but blogging is a good way to get your ideas out there.
7. Ease.
It’s so easy to create a blog!! There are so many great tools out there. Please see the links that follow. (This is only a small sample of the kinds of tools available — there are so many out there! Most sites require you to register and provide some basic information to set up your account.)
Blog creation sites:
wordpress.com—I chose WordPress to create my first blog.* They have an excellent “zero-to-hero” guide to help you get started.
blogger.com — Simple interface with a lot of nice walk-through features.
thoughts.com — User friendly interface and nicely organized.
weebly.com— Named one of TIME's 50 Best Websites, Weebly has an easy, drag & drop interface
livejournal.com— This site has been around for many years and has some interesting add-on features as well as writing prompts.
squarespace.com— The only site on my list that isn’t free — but you get what you pay for. Squarespace is a “fully hosted, completely managed environment for creating and maintaining a beautiful website, blog, or portfolio”.
webnode.com— Webnode is a tool for the fast and easy creation of web sites. Simple, on-line and free. You can even use your own domain.
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