cc licensed flickr photo shared by Maria Reyes-McDavis
Recently, I wrote a short post on “Why I Blog“, which was followed up with the question, “Why did you start to blog?”. The interesting thing is, I never really had the intention of maintaining a blog in the first place, but in the process, I have found it to be an extremely valuable tool to my own professional and personal development.
In April of last year, I did a short presentation at the University of Regina. While spending some time with these students, I started to look at their own blog/portfolios, and thought that this would be a great project for our own students at Forest Green School. I thought that if we were to implement this type of digital portfolio practice in our own school, I would have to immerse myself in it to fully understand any technical issues that would arise.
I was also inspired through the opportunity that Vicky Loras gave me to guest post on her blog. I was surprised that anyone would even care what a principal in Stony Plain, Alberta wrote about.
Through these two events, I decided to start blogging and was amazed by my enthusiasm for it.
What I did not expect though, was how much my own learning would grow. Writing a blog for me is now something that I feel is necessary for an educator, as it gives me the opportunity to not only reflect on my practice, but also collaborate with others in a more in depth way then sites like Twitter can provide. I also have had a major shift in my own thinking as I am less focused on the technical aspects of a blog, but the learning implications this type of writing can have on educators and students.
Sometimes when we are willing to take risks, the unintended consequences are more beneficial than we could have ever imagined. I love having the opportunity to write and reflect on my practice. It not only lets those that I serve get to know me better, but I also learn more about myself. The opportunity for transparency with my school community has not only helped to build relationships, but it has also opened up many conversations with staff and stakeholders (isn’t that the point?). It is exciting that we are now providing the same platform for our students. I can’t wait to see where they go with it!
