To Blog or Not to Blog: One teacher’s dilemma

 

Not everyone may be as lucky as me. Just today I was reminded that the willingness to share expertise, resources, and time is not universal from one school to the next. Some buildings may produce environments in which teachers feel like islands with no support and no connection. Social media, blogging and global PLNs are arguably a solution. Being able to create an alternative means of collaboration is a potential lifeboat leading to teacher retention and contentment.  

 

Genuinely appreciate the reasons for blogging offered by Tsisana Palmer in 9 Reasons Every Teacher Should Blog. All nine (share; reflect; publish; improve reading skills; serve others; lead one’s own PD; become a digital citizen; be ahead of one’s students; and showcase student work) are valid, each offering a significant contribution to personal and professional growth. I particularly like the opportunity to reflect as well as the chance to make connections through showcasing work. Serving others through the sharing of resources and experiences is not far behind in top reasons which might motivate me to blog. We could round out the list by adding creativity to the number ten position. Blogging certainly allows for creative expression providing the opportunity to venture into the arenas of design and the art of writing. Having said this, reasons exist which also make blogging unappealing to this teacher.

 

1) A need to be vulnerable for it to be useful. Private vulnerability is vastly different from public vulnerability. Any time we put our thoughts in public a forum we expose ourselves not just to potential support and connection and to (healthy) constructive criticism but we also expose ourselves to having our thoughts and words misread or misinterpreted. Having conversations with people we trust may have a markedly different result than doing it with people we may not know. And if we are to blog productively it requires an honesty which may not always be well received or may have a landing we did not anticipate. 

 

2) Permanency. Twofold. Once we put our words out, there they are. Forever. Even if we remove our blog or delete a post, nothing is ever really gone. On a positive, that trademark enables us to track our progress making our growth infinitely more tangible. However, words never leaving is scary. 

 

3) Time. Curating anything requires a commitment of time and energy. In a life which already demands being spread thin, carving out windows to write productively to reflect on life as an educator and lifelong learner feels overwhelming. In just setting up the page the hours snuck by until  I was pulled away by life again. I could easily become consumed by writing and reading others’ blogs.

 

Nevertheless, with the good and potentially not so good (and severely out of my comfort zone), here I go….