10 Reasons Why Mathematics Teachers Should Blog

If you are a mathematics teacher (or even a teacher of any subject), and there are more than 181 million bloggers all over the world, then maybe it’s high time to start one. With that many bloggers, it shouldn’t be that hard. In fact, some 12-year old kids have blogs.

In this post, I will give you 10 reasons from personal experience why should you pursue the path of blogging.

1. Blogging will improve your communication skills

I started blogging in 2006 and it has helped me a lot in improving my writing skills. As you have probably noticed, I am not very good at it. Although up to now, I still consider myself a lousy writer, I could say that I have quite improved since I started blogging.

 2. Blogging will develop your creativity

When you blog, you think about how your posts will attract readers. You tend to ask the following questions.

  • How can my post be quite different from those seen on the internet?
  • How can my post be quite different from those written in books?
  • How can my post be understood by my students or by non-mathematics readers?

Asking questions such as these will help develop your creativity especially about presenting, simplifying, and organizing your ideas. Of course, it does not just evolve overnight, but as you write more, your creativity will certainly improve.

 3. Blogging will encourage you to be a lifelong learner

As you blog, you learn about your content deeper.  You review your content to make sure that what you have written is correct.  As much as possible, you also want to vary your posts.  Time will come that you will run out of ideas. If that happens, you will be forced to read and learn further, and that should be the attitude of every mathematics teacher.

 4. Blogging will help you build a repository of teaching/learning materials

Writing regularly in a blog builds a repository of teaching/learning materials. Since your materials are online, you can improve them any time, and surely you will improve them as you mature in teaching. In addition, there is very little risk of losing them, unlike if you store them in your hard drive.

 5. Blogging will make you web savvy

Blogging has taught me a lot of things about the web. Through blogging, I have learned the different blogging platforms (WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr). Through blogging I have learned about   apps, widgets, plugins, and applets, and demonstrations. Through blogging, I  have learned about Scribd, RSS, Jing, and Facebook Page. And the lists continue …

6. Blogging will introduce you to other people

Blogging will let you make friends and widen your network. In my case, it became instrumental in meeting other people here in our country. Because of my blogs, I have been invited to conduct seminars and lectures in different high schools and universities.

7. Blogging will open windows of opportunity

Your blog can be read around the world, so you’ll never know what might come. Salman Khan, for example, of Khan Academy just started video tutorials in Youtube. Now, he is recognized around the world.

8. Blogging will help you ‘publish’

Many bloggers become professional writers later in their career. After you have written a lot of articles, you can synthesize your posts and publish them as an ebook or even in print.

9. Blogging will help you teach others and learn from them

Blogging can help you teach others. Through your blog, your students, as well as the non-math persons can learn. It can also help you get feedback from other bloggers. For example, you have a new lesson  and it did not work in your class. You can blog about it and get feedback from other teachers.  Besides, you will also learn what other math bloggers are doing. For example, how do math bloggers create equations on their blogs? Hmmm… I’m sure some mathematics teachers don’t know about Latex.

10. Blogging will help you earn extra income

Most bloggers around the world monetize their blogs through ads. There is no promise that blogging will make you rich (although some are receiving hundreds or even thousands of dollars a day), but it will certainly help you pay your internet bills. Well, that is better than nothing.

Aside from ads, you can also publish ebooks and sell them. However, don’t get me wrong. Don’t start a blog because you want to earn. Start a blog because you want to write.

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