Using Blogging to Connect, Learn, and Magnify Teacher Voice

In the coming weeks and months, The Fund will feature blogs from teachers in the Next Generation Instructional Design network. They will share their journey, their ideas, and their collaborative work related to being in the network and with building units of study with LDC modules embedded. Today, we’ll hear from Renee Boss about why blogging is important for teachers and how it can be used to improve connections, learning, and practice.

By: Renee Boss

In today’s connected world, teachers no longer go all summer without connecting with each other, using social media (Twitter, Voxer, Blogs, Facebook). Rather, teachers learn from their personal learning networks (PLN) year-round. Even with frequent formal and informal connections, let’s consider specifically what we can learn from one another through blogging. Blogs are excellent resources for helping us connect, learn, grow, and magnify our voices. 

When our Marketing Communications Manager at The Fund asked me to write this post, I initially thought “no problem--I blog, I support bloggers, and I read blogs all the time--I’ll pull this post off in no time at all.” Wrong. What I found is that there are so many blogs I enjoy it was hard to pare it down into the size of one readable blog post about educators blogging. After days of considering my options, I determined that I would allow myself only four slots under three categories (learn, magnify voice, and connect). The blogs listed below are the ones I return to regularly, and there are many more I could have included. Do you have favorite educator blogs? Please share!

Blogs for learning

The New York Times Learning Network 

With the editor of this blog (Katherine Schulten) having a long experience in education and regular contributing bloggers being teachers, you can count on the NYT Learning Network blog for daily resources for teaching and learning. You will find lesson plans connected to reading the NYT (valuable for all subject areas), questions for writing and discussion and opportunities to join the conversations by commenting on posts. Personally, I have utilized The New York Times in my work with high school students and college students because the resources are free, the topics are timely, and it’s also a great resource for staying current on issues in our country and world.

CoolCat Teacher

For years now I have been following the work of Vicki Davis from Camilla, Georgia. As a leading educator in technology and blogging, you can count on Vicki’s blog for resources on a plethora of topics, especially technology. A few years ago I met her at an education conference and she shared the story of the title of her blog coming from students who thought she was a cool teacher and the school’s mascot were the cats, so her blog became CoolCat Teacher. She’s been all over the world speaking and inspiring fellow educators and she still teaches in South Georgia and shares her expertise with all of us.

Kevin’s Meandering Mind
Kevin Hodgson writes about technology, digital literacy, jazz, connected educators, and teaching middle schoolers. His posts are witty, informative, and innovative. Read his blog to learn new ideas for teaching students at any grade and be inspired by his level-headed approach to education.

Partnerships in Learning
A blog written by Tricia Shelton, a Kentucky teacher and connected educator, offers inspiration for learning and sharing through a lens of science for all students. Tricia engages other teachers as learners exploring the Next Generation Science Standards, and she believes science should be exciting and accessible for all students. 

Blogs for magnifying voices

Getting Smart

Another site I’ve followed for years is Getting Smart. Here you find innovative ideas for teaching and learning in blogs written by teachers and journalists alike. All positive ideas for reimagining learning and sharing the voices of teachers as leaders. Coincidentally, I re-connected with a fellow Piedmont College graduate through his blog on Getting Smart. Our liberal arts college Masters in Teaching program served us well because we both maintain forward thinking ideas for teaching/learning and education reform. Check out all the innovative blogs on Getting Smart and access John’s contributions here.

Teaching Channel 

Teaching Channel started with videos but I’m finding more and more blogs by teachers as another way for teachers to share their ideas about teaching and learning. Sometimes the blogs connect with the videos (another great resource for learning) and sometimes the blogs stand alone on topics relevant to the time of the school year or to issues in public education.

Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension

In this popular blog, teacher Pernille Ripp shares thoughts on teaching and student voice. I’ve always believed one of the major reasons teachers should be sharing their voice is because they are some of the best advocates for students. Ripp believes students have the right to raise a ruckus when education being given to them is not working. I couldn’t agree more, and I also believe teachers and parents have the same right. Let’s raise our voices & do so with the tips Ripp offers--with kindness, empathy and persistence. Together, we can make a difference in education.

Impatient Optimists: Education

The blog for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation frequently features teacher bloggers. My personal experiences working with the BMGF and with other teachers across the country working with them have been top notch. They listen. They learn. They support and encourage. They value teachers’ voices as experts in the field of education, and I couldn't agree more. Teachers know what students need to be successful in life.

Blogs for connecting

KYEdvolution

This teacher generated site hosts information for teachers in Kentucky wishing to connect with one another for optimal student learning. Visit to learn more about professional learning opportunities, to learn about Kentucky teacher blogs, and to add your voice to the change making happening in our state.

Literacy Design Collaborative Blog (LDC)

LDC provides tools for classroom teachers seeking to ensure students graduate college and career ready. The LDC instructional design system helps us think about the learning experiences we provide for students. LDC’s blog provides updates on information related to the tools and also shares educator perspectives on the usefulness of the tools for improved student learning. If you use the LDC tools or even if you don’t (yet), following the blog provides a great way to learn and stay connected.

Center for Teaching Quality

Established by a non-profit organization over a decade ago, CTQ created the collaboratory for teachers to blog and connect with one another around topics of interest. Not only do they have the larger collaboratory, they also have smaller groups (called labs). Lab topics range from advocacy to leadership to sharing professional expertise. One of my personal favorites is the lab on Teacher Powered Schools.

National Blogging Collaborative

Created by teachers for teachers, this service oriented blog offers various services to teachers, including free writing coaching by fellow educator bloggers. The NBC encourages more teachers to blog and share their perspective on issues in education. Check out the site and start your own blogging journey today!

Teacher Voice through Focus Notes

By: Jan Horn & Travis Marcum

Every teacher has a voice but having that voice heard is sometimes a challenge in our busy educational lives. Teachers have a multitude of ideas and concerns, and other than speaking to our close colleagues, those thoughts stay swirling in our minds without ever reaching the outside corridors in order to spark positive change. Having an avenue to share Teacher Voice with all stakeholders is crucial in implementing a coherent work environment that is conducive to learning for all students and staff.

With that charge being given, Travis Marcum and I decided to call a meeting with our superintendent, building principal, and district technology staff in order to brainstorm avenues for possible teacher voice platforms. Travis and I both knew that the platform must be easily accessed and easily navigated in order for teachers to not feel overwhelmed by one more thing to do. We also mulled over ideas on how to set norms for the voice topics so ideas posted would bring about positive change and not a gripe session of issues out of our control. Then, with a stroke of good luck, the Fayette County Kentucky Learning Center faculty was in the building that same day conducting a walk-through to address any issues we were having with a current system we were already piloting. This eOS system is called “Transformations” and is a software used to record students’ employable skills throughout the school day. The creators of this unique system were invited to sit in our meeting and the discussion exploded!

The room of stakeholders quickly realized that we already had a system that would serve our purposes successfully. The Transformations software could be used to create "focus notes" for teachers to collaborate regularly and conveniently. Travis and I were eager to move forward with this idea as every teacher in our building was already using the system and were comfortable with it, thus meeting two of our concerns for sharing teacher voice. The superintendent wanted to learn more and was eager to have himself and other district support staff added to the unique feature the system calls focus notes.

Since this meeting, we have added content groups within the focus notes, a way to organize comments so that teachers can easily access a note to their content areas to share their voices. Through this system, teachers are also able to store conversations as well as check off the common core standards for PGES that meet the confines of the discussion, the things that were accomplished or resolved.

Even though we found a great avenue for teacher voice through focus notes, there is still much work to be accomplished. The system is constantly updating which gives teachers some anxiety. Furthermore, teachers feel overwhelmed with the many focus notes that come through daily, both from teachers and students. Therefore, our next steps to improve are to encourage teachers in our building to share the many awesome things going on in their classrooms so that the rest of the school and all stakeholders can celebrate and borrow their fantastic ideas.

Teacher voice and leadership are the changes that must take place to nurture and ensure student achievement and teacher morale in this new day of public education. Let the change begin.

For more information, contact Jan Horn or Travis Marcum.

This is a guest blog written by one of the teachers in our Innovative Teacher Leader cohort to share about an innovative teacher or practice from their area of the state. To learn more about the work happening in the Commonwealth from these Innovative Teacher Leaders, who are working to redefine teacher leadership in Kentucky, check back throughout the month of March. We’ll be sharing guest blogs all month long.

By: Karen Handlos

I just attended an amazing convening in Phoenix, Arizona; the Teacher Voice Convening. The convening only lasted a couple of days but was filled with over 150 educators from across nine different states sharing their stories and learning from others about the positive impact that the Common Core State Standards have and are making on their students.

One teacher’s story really stuck out to me. The teacher is a special education teacher and one of her former students had come to her not knowing how to read. The child’s parent spoke with the teacher and shared that her child was too low functioning and reading would never be a possibility. The teacher decided not to focus on what she was told the student could not do but to find out for herself what the student could do. The teacher believed that all students, despite disabilities, should have equal opportunities for education and that is exactly the kind of learning environment that she provided for this student. She persevered and challenged her student beyond her current capabilities and by the end of the year the student was reading and doing math problems. Had the teacher sat back and accepted the student as she was she never would seen this transformation and the student would still be low functioning and not reading.

Teachers have a powerful voice and position in the lives of their students. They can elevate the teaching profession by challenging their students to new heights and transforming their instructional practices to meet their students’ needs in ways that far surpass the status quo. I challenge all teachers to set the bar high and to work with your students so they may be able to compete in the global economy and allow their dreams for the future to come true!!

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." - Henry Brooks Adams