A Blog Review

After spending a few hours reading different blogs I settled upon a blog, How does blogging help you become a better teacher? by Lizzie Pinard, which is posted on the British Council Teaching English webpage. 

The blog has a very attention grabbing title, How does blogging help you become a better teacher? and relates to a number of key words which the author believes relevant to anyone involved in teaching.  It gives five key words, Reflection, Metacognition, Motivation, Destination and Connection, about which the blog focuses on.  Before I even read beyond the five points, I started to think, or should I say reflect, and started questioning myself on all five, which is great.  The further I read more the more meaningful each of the sections became. An interesting thing happened as I continued to read the blog, it felt like the Lizzie was speaking to me.

I think the way the blog has been written, the key words which are part of teaching vocabulary and appear to be chosen with relevancy, the paragraphs, all flow from one to the other key word section.   There are no distracting side panes full of information or adverts, which make it all the easier to concentrate and read.  All the reader needs to do is scroll down to read.

The grouping of Reflection and Metacognition is appropriate and explained this clearly.  Motivation was a key point, in that it also focussed on the teacher, a good point to remember.  Destination is a journey and process of discovery and identifies how blogging can help.  Connection contained an attractive point, that was to share and learn from others, and blogging was a way to achieve that.

A really good aspect of the blog is that it is genuine and very meaningful.  By that, it is sincere and helps the reader to focus in on the key words, and its relevance. The references in the blog are easy to find and correctly used.  There are comments which readers have placed on her normal site, www.reflectiveteachingreflectivelearning.com.  

Although the blog title and key words caught my attention, I do feel that stating the key words were words which popped into her mind may give the impression it was not a planned blog, but the blog does carry meaning to others.

The key message is to reflect and develop and reflect…

Reference:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/lizzie-p/how-does-blogging-help-you-be-a-better-teacher-lizzie-pinard (Accessed on: 15 January 2016).