This recipe details strategies for investing in and growing your readership.
The most common analogy often used to describe a blog is that of an online journal. True reflective practice is personal; it often reveals one's mistakes more often than it basks in successes. So why, in a time when teachers are attacked and vilified from all sides, would anyone want to put their personal thoughts and experiences out there for anyone to see? Would it not be better to just write and reflect privately? While it is certainly possible that many will indeed come to such a conclusion, most teachers that have been blogging for any period of time can attest to the value that it has had for them personally. Following are the four reasons which show that publicly reflecting on a blog is more worthwhile to many than taking a safer alternative:
Accountability
Transparency
Community
Validation
Despite the message often sent by politicians and the media, educators want accountability. Most educators do not want to be left alone, to fail or succeed on their own. The knowledge that there is a potential public audience is a cause to carefully consider and craft one's message. After a particularly troubling day or difficult lesson, it is easy to vent. It is not often productive, but it is easy to fall into that routine. However, through my reflective, public writing, I would want to carefully consider what happened. Instead of blaming kids for misbehaving, for example, I will look deeper to try and find the root cause. Perhaps I did not teach the concept well and they were acting out because they were lost. There could have been extenuating circumstances that I was not aware of; instead of assigning blame, I am able to move past it, to try to find a solution. It is both cathartic and productive. Public writing promotes responsibility and accountability in a good and natural way. As with all criticism, and public writing will occasionally engender criticism, there is a choice to get angry, to ignore it, or to explore it and see if the person has a point. By opening up one's writing publicly, we invite a type of criticism that can help us grow.
Many of the administrators and parents I have worked with were very surprised by the level of transparency that I wanted in my classroom. I wanted them to have my lesson plans. I wanted them to be in my classroom regularly. I wanted them to know what I was doing and, more importantly, what the students were doing. Other teachers and administrators can offer great insight on instruction. Parents can offer great insight into the needs of their children. The feedback that can come about as a result of a collaborative transparency is transformational. This is not transparency because the administrators are spying on my classroom. This is transparency that stems from wanting all stakeholders to be truly involved to improve the experience for the students. Blogging is an extension of that. It can offer a window into your world, the world in which your students live.
The longer you blog, the more you get to know your readers, and the more a mutual trusting relationship is built. There is a proportional relationship between how much and how honestly you share, and how well the community develops. The community of readers is here to get to know you and to grow with you. If you are not honest with them, then you erect a barrier and the relationship grows more slowly. Those who have been following my blog since its inception in my second year teaching, know that my greatest difficulty as a teacher was classroom management. I am glad that I was honest about this. I received a lot of feedback on things that I was doing; I've learned and grown much in this area because of the help that I have got from the community. I went from trying to control my classroom to giving up control, by developing a good relationship with the students, giving them choices, and trusting them to make the right decisions; behavior issues became mostly a non-issue. While I still have room to grow in this area, it would have taken far longer for me to progress as far as I have, had not the community helped to show me what I was doing wrong. While I know people who have, I have never had a hostile or an insulting comment. Most people who spend time reading what you have to say about education truly have a desire to both learn and help.
Sometimes, it can feel very lonely in a school, especially when you feel as though you are a minority in terms of trying new approaches, ideas, or techniques in your classroom. This is not to say that few teachers are innovative, but rather speaks to a sense of isolation that many teachers, especially those new to the profession, often feel. Having limited time in the school day to plan and collaborate with others in the building can exacerbate this feeling. I have often worked with great educators; however, there have been times when I wanted to try things that were not yet commonplace in my school. An example is being the only teacher in the school teaching a blended environment. There was not anyone in the school that I could really go to for guidance. Thankfully, some of my readers have been in that situation. They were able to help validate that some of what I was doing was indeed good; this gave me more confidence to keep at what I was doing.
Our readers are the primary way through which our blogs have meaning, develop relevance, and make a difference. We need to consciously invest in our readers so as they invest in us.
Looking at the comments of any blog can show how vibrant its community of readers really is. Comments are the main avenue of communication between author and audience. There are steps that you can take to foster a community where people comment and interact frequently, honestly, and naturally.
Make time to comment on other people's blogs. In doing so, you are fostering communication and supporting another blogger/educator. A side effect of supporting others in this fashion is that the author will often check out and comment on your blog. Furthermore, anyone reading that person's post will be exposed to your site and may check it out as well. The community that you are trying to build is extended beyond just your own blog.
Create an atmosphere that does not put your opinion above anyone else's. It is your site, but you do not necessarily need to be the expert all the time. If you are the sole expert about what you are writing, then why do you need other people to contribute? Readers need to know that they can make a valuable contribution to the blog, or they will not waste their time.
Ask. There is a large difference in the amount and quality of comments when you ask people for help or for their opinion, and when you do not. I will often end my posts with a question because I really want to know what the people reading think. Do they agree or disagree? Why?
Be polite. Ideally, your commenters will not always agree with everything you say. Of course, validation is important and helpful, but if everyone agrees, then what is really learned? What impact can be had if no one is moved outside of his comfort zone? So, the longer you blog, the higher the chance that someone will disagree with you. This is a good thing because we can learn through the process of disagreeing. In the event that a commenter is argumentative, try to be polite and positive.
Respond often. When I first started blogging, I would respond to every comment. I had my blog setup to e-mail me whenever I receive a comment so that I could reply in a timely fashion. Our readers' time is important, and leaving a question unanswered for days shows a disregard for the value of their time. As the community around a blog develops, the readers will often respond to each other. Foster this; it is the sign of a thriving community.
The more you and your readers are able to interact, the more value everyone, including you, will be able to derive from your blog. So it is definitely worth it to try to create an environment where people are comfortable to comment.
Edublogs allows us to setup different levels of moderation. This can be accessed by going to the Discussion section in the Settings menu.
The default settings from Edublogs are shown in the following screenshot:
The following are a few settings in particular that I would like to highlight:
Comment author must fill out name and e-mail: I keep this setting checked, so that it is more likely people will use their real name/online identity.
Users must be registered and logged in to comment: I keep this unchecked so that I may receive comments from anyone, not just Edublogs users.
Enable threaded (nested) comments: This allows users to respond to each other's comments, not just to the general posts.
Email me whenever: I like to keep Anyone posts a comment checked, to make sure I respond to comments relatively quickly.
Before a comment appears: Checking An administrator must always approve the comment will hold all comments until you approve them.
Before a comment appears: Checking Comment author must have a previously approved comment will hold a comment if the reader has never had a comment approved before.
There is no way to moderate what works best in every situation. Some writers like to approve every comment so that they can screen comments for appropriateness. I personally assume the best in my readers; I allow all comments without moderation and will remove any that are blatantly inappropriate.
There is a fine line of trust though. If you moderate all comments, be sure to approve comments that you disagree with, as long as they are appropriate. The moment readers realize that an author picks and chooses only certain comments to be approved, that author has lost all credibility, and it is difficult to convince readers to return.