Please keep in mind that your audience extends beyond our class. As you compose your posts, imagine that your cooperating teacher, principal, students, grandmother, and future employer are going to read them. This doesn’t mean that you can’t articulate challenges you’re facing or questions you have. It doesn’t mean that you can’t use humor or even sarcasm to create engaging, witty, memorable posts. It just means that you need to consider your (potentially very large) audience.
Maintaining Professionalism and Privacy on your Public Blog
1. Do not use the names (or other identifiable information) of your school, cooperating teacher, students, or other field placement employees in your blog posts. Ever.
a. You may use pseudonyms, which will allow you to maintain a more conversational tone in your posts. I recommend that you write a brief note for each post in which you use pseudonyms (e.g., “all names are pseudonyms”), so your audience does not assume lack of professionalism on your part.
b. I also recommend that you avoid referring to your school district, city, and state when possible.
2. Do not post photos in which students are identifiable on your blog. Ever. Photos of you teaching are acceptable. Photos of materials that you’ve created are acceptable. Photos of you and your CT (with your CT’s permission, of course) are acceptable. Photos in which students are identifiable are not (i.e., photos taken from the back of the classroom that show backs of students’ heads and you teaching are generally okay).
3. Do not turn your blog into a venting/ranting/whining space. This is a professional blog, a space for you to reflect on your teaching, pose questions, share experiences and resources, offer advice, and solicit feedback. If you need to vent/complain, talk to your friends or family members – though not in a public place where you might be overheard – and try to keep it to a minimum. Negativity breeds negativity. If you have a serious issue/concern, you may visit with me privately.
Composing Engaging Posts (a.k.a. Inspiring Audience Commentary)
1. Use writing techniques that you would use in any text: dialogue, character development, action, anecdotes, questions, quotations (with citations), etc.
2. Engage in your own inquiry by sharing questions that you have regarding teaching, classroom management, and content. But don’t stop there! Review your class texts and online resources (go, Google!) and seek out and share answers to your professional inquiry. Use the “Link” feature in Blogger to cite your online resources and allow your audience to visit the site as well.
3. Create an intriguing title for each post, and limit your entries to 500-800 words, and delete any extraneous information so your post is as clear and concise as possible.
4. Double space between paragraphs. Otherwise, you will just have one huge, unreadable chunk of text that just hurts your audience’s eyes.
Secrets for Writing Good Blog Posts – Please review these tips.
Examples of professional blogs by current teachers:
Gaetan Pappalardo’s Blog on Edutopia
No comments:
Post a Comment