Instructify

August 29, 2008

MacBook Pro Keyboard on Flickr A few months ago, I posted about reasons you should be blogging, but now, I want to extend that idea and give you some more reasons why. As if the first post wasn’t convincing enough.

Not Enough of You Are Doing It – For those of you who are already blogging, skip to the next tip. For those of you who aren’t: why not? Blogging is a great avenue to connecting with other teachers and sharing information. Of the blogs I search on a daily basis, not enough are based in personal experience and lessons learned from the classroom. Sites like ours are designed to share tools and tips, but you are the ones on the battlefield. Who knows? You might connect with someone and learn some valuable lessons yourself.
Your students are already doing it – Your students are already spending a boatload of time on the web. In fact they’re the ones who are making it. Do your part and represent your teacher brethren and sistren by having an online presence. In order to understand what youngsters like these days, you have to get in there and take a look around yourself. I’m not saying you should be a snoop or a tattler, but it is a good idea to know how and what they are talking about in hushed snickers around Billy’s iPhone.
Organization – Remember last year when you had that one great comparison of Tom Sawyer to Sawyer from LOST? How did that metaphor go again? Drat, if only you had blogged about it when you got home, you could use it this year, too. Oh well. Blogging can help you keep a searchable record of your lessons.
Get Some Attention – The web is a big, big place, and just because you teach in Greasy Corner, AR doesn’t mean you can’t be a rockstar on the web. With social networking sites in your niche, it is easy to become a teaching authority by accessing information from all over the world and helping to aggregate it.
The Tools Are There – Remember that the web is growing, so you might want to have a good grasp of the tools that are available before 20 more pop up. There are some great blogging platforms out there, many of which are free. Check out WordPress, Blogger, and perhaps a more appropriate, niche built-in platform like TeacherLingo.