Exploring the Blogsphere

I've been a blog reader for some years now, but I mostly stick with baseball. I'm a huge Mariners fan, and it just so happens that the Mariners have one of the best "blogspheres"around. Reading about baseball at my favorite blogs has made me a better and more knowledgeable baseball fan. Unfortunately, that's not a skill that is so easily applied to professional life.

Teaching seems to have it's own blogsphere, and exploring some teacher blogs has been a fun and rewarding experience for me. Here's hoping that reading expert teacher blogs will provide me with the ability to be a better an more knowledgeable teacher, just as baseball blogs have made me a good fan.

One blog that I really appreciated was "My First Year" which is updated by Siobhan Boylan. It can be found here; http://www.ibabuzz.com/myfirstyear/. I like this blog because Siobhan talks about failure. Failure is going to be a big part of my first year of teaching, I can see it now. I am not going to be perfect - there will be days when I just don't have much to bring to the table. But I will improve, and I must always remain steadfast in my determination to get better. This type of thinking resonates in Siobhan's blog. That has proved comforting to me, and helps me remind myself that while I'm not perfect, I can certainly improve.

Another blog that I have been checking in with is JT Spencer's Musings from a Not-So-Master Teacher. It can be found at http://jtspencer.teacherlingo.com/default.aspx. I like this blog not so much because I always agree with him - sometimes I think that he is too harsh, like when he rudely and publicly denied a successful student partial credit. However, I like that he doesn't act impulsively. He looks at his decisions and critically evaluates them. That's pretty cool, I think. He also updates very regularly, which is nice for a reader, and his posts get some feedback too.

I appreciate bloggers who are regular, honest, and well spoken, and these two blogs that I have mentioned are both. I wonder what role blogging will play in MY teaching experience. To blog would be a natural progression for me, I think.

Only time will tell. Until then, I've got some great blogs that should keep me thinking until I feel comfortable enough to fully enter the blogsphere with a self-driven professional blog of my own. Perhaps I'm not far away!

-Mr. Reni