Who Am I? And What Am I Doing?
A million and one blogs and I decide to start one… what am I thinking?
Hi. I’m PorterHasClass and I have decided to jump into the fray of bloggers.
The idea lingered as I began to prepare lessons to be published on TeachersPayTeachers. As I researched how best to create and advertise products, the more I learned how beneficial a blog can be in cross-promoting my TPT store.
But what do I have to offer to the blogging world? What can I write that would be any more interesting than any other blog?
Epiphany
That’s when life struck. A cooperating teacher of mine asked, “What can we do to improve reading comprehension? Every year students come to us grade levels behind, and we are not able to move the bar enough to make up the difference.”
24% of 8th Grade students do not read at a basic level according to a 2015 NAEP report.
She was right. Finally, it was time for my planning period, and I feverishly started research. Guess what… I did not have an epiphany. I did not find the silver bullet.
What I found were several articles and research materials I had ALREADY read on the same topic. What a waste of time, right?
I did NOT waste my time. I certainly saw some things I could better implement that I had not done efficiently the first time. In addition, and more to the point, it gave me the idea of reviewing these articles online.
William Faulkner once said, “Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.”
So, What Now?
By writing about these articles, I am more likely to learn and utilize what I read. Or, if it’s crap, “throw it out of the window.”
In the end, I think this will be a rewarding experience. I don’t expect any kind of fame, but if I can help one or two people, as well as help myself, become a better teacher then this will have been well worth the effort.
Why Does It Matter To You?
If you have blog questions or topics you would like to see covered in the future, please post them in the comments. That is one beauty to a new blog, I can take this in a number of directions.
