Blogging – I’ve dipped my feet in it a few times over the years. Usually there is a reason: I am taking a course that requires it, I am participating in an activity with others, or I am taking a workshop that gets me excited about it again.
All of these things have one thing in common – external motivations. I am generally accountable to someone else for completing blog posts and, being the people pleaser that I am, I generally do them.
Unfortunately that is not sustainable – which is why I generally don’t keep doing it. It is not that I don’t want to, it is just that other things get in the way – planning for classes, teaching, living life, etc…
So when I was asked in a workshop titled “Connecting Blogs for Teaching and Learning” presented through the Edith Lando Centre by Helen DeWaard “What my ‘Why’?” was – that got me thinking. Obviously my previous “Whys” were not the correct ones. They weren’t wrong, they just were not a reason to keep doing it. Here I will attempt to determine the “Why” that keeps me going.
Self-Learning/Enjoyment – I have always been a technology tinkerer. I love to try new things. Play with new tools. When people ask me about a new edtech (or just tech) tool, they expect me to have, at the minimum, heard of it. In reality, I usually have tried it and can give some sort of opinion. For me, using blogging tools has a lot of that built into it. I can tinker with the look and feel of the underlying technology (in this case WordPress, though I am intrigued by some of the other tools my hosting provides – Scalar, Grav – and might just do something there as well).
Self-Reflection – Journaling is something that has always intrigued me. Being able to review and reflect on my day/week/month/year is important. It mirrors some of the teaching I do in the Faculty of Education with my Teacher Candidates. I ask them to reflect on each lesson they teach. It doesn’t have to be a long reflection, however, having those “notes” to reference in the future are invaluable. I feel that if I take my own advice here and doing something short on a regular basis, that a blog is a great place to journal.
Modelling – As I mentioned above, teaching in the Faculty of Education, reflection is a big part of the program. Practicing what I Preach is important to me, and being able to do that openly so my students can see the process is, I feel, important.
So, will I be able to commit to blogging on a regular basis going forward? The answer to that is “I don’t know”. Will I make an attempt to blog between now and the start of the school year in September? I will make an effort. Will it be about teaching and education? Not always? Will I use tags and try and organize my writing somehow? Yes! Again, the tinkerer in me loves that idea. Will there be posts about my VW Van? Probably? Is that a bad thing? Nope. I will try to get some of my thoughts on teaching and learning down as they come up though.
Thanks for reading this far and, if you are so inclined, share with me, in the comments, your “Why?” for blogging.
