10 Reasons Why I Blog 9/10

10 Reasons Why I Blog

1. I blog as a way to making meaning.  Blogging helps me think about and process information.  I find it therapeutic to take in, reflect on, and then express my feelings and thoughts through my writing. Sometimes, during challenging times, this is difficult to do so in a diplomatic manner. This is a skill in and of itself which  I am learning to be more skillful at through blogging.

2.  I blog in an effort to help people understand. I like to write about particular issues: dealing with people, the importance of relationships, dealing with grading, disciplining children, leadership topics, among other subjects. It is my hope that people reading my blog will come away with another perspective that may help with their own understanding of their behaviour or the Behaviour of others.

3.  I blog to demonstrate my own learning. I do believe that It Is All About Learning, as the title of my blog states. We learn each and every day. Why not share this learning with others?  To be a leader in education, I believe you must be a lead-learner first.

4.  I blog to collect all my thoughts, feelings, and ideas in one place.  It is great to be able to just search my blog for a particular topic or tool that I know I have written about. It is a great way to store information in a searchable form.

5.  I blog to connect with others.  Blogging is a great way to connect with like-minded people and people, in general. There are great education bloggers in the blog-o-sphere. It is always exciting when one of those bloggers reads and comments on my blog. Blogging allows me the opportunity to connect with people I would never have that opportunity to connect with otherwise.

6. I blog to challenge myself and move out of my comfort zone.  It is not easy to put yourself out there, knowing that you have no idea who is actually reading your blog, if they enjoy it, or if they think you and your ideas hold little meaning. It doesn’t really matter though. It is important to understand that while I do blog for others, I blog for me first of all.  I do hope though, that I am making a difference, no matter how small that difference may be (even if it is with just one person).

7. I blog because I feel that change must start with the leaders in education.  To make a difference, I must start myself.  How could I expect others to challenge themselves, explore technology, blog, or engage with others online, if I am not willing to model this learning.

8.  I blog in an effort to share.  There is a wealth of knowledge and information out there (particularly on Twitter).  When certain topics/blogs/tools/people impact me in a certain way, I may share this information on my blog.

9.  I blog to, hopefully, inspire others to reflect on their own learning. I reflect a great deal in my blog. I feel that it is through our reflecting where we really learn about ourselves and our practise.  We can not grow and improve without ongoing reflection. I am hopeful that some of my posts will help others reflect on things they are doing in their schools and in their classrooms and, perhaps, change things that may need to be changed or tweaked.

10.  I blog to be transparent. I blog personally/ professionally here and am transparent with all of who I am as a person, administrator, and educator.  I feel I have shared a great deal of personal information on this blog (which I never intended to do when I began blogging) and it has really help me get to know myself better and has allowed others, who are interested, get to know me better as well.  I also blog for our School Success Blog.  This has been a fun way to bring the school into the experience of blogging as a way to share and celebrate some of the wonderful things happening at our school.  I am hoping that more people will be inspired to blog through our Success Blog.

Do you blog?  If so, why do you blog?

Do you think it is important for educational leaders to blog?  If so, why?  If not, why not?

If you have any suggestions for me with regard tbalmy blog,  I would love to hear them. I am always welcome the suggestions of others.