Celebrating a Blog by Jan Hamilton

This year I surprised myself and became a blogger. What began as an experiment in classroom management turned into a digital scrapbook of the adventures we had in our class this year.  Originally I just wanted to record the excitement that I believed would keep my students engaged.

Once I started writing, I couldn’t stop!

If you have been wanting to dip into blogging, this is a wonderful way to start. There are many free platforms that are simple to use. Teachers will always have plenty to write about, and if you share the link with your students’ families, they can celebrate with you.

I organized the posts into segments: an overview, preparations, what we did, and examples of student work. I hoped the posts would be seen by readers as how-tos. I realized I was writing something I would have loved to discover as a teacher. I attempted to make it as user-friendly as possible by including lots of links, and I wanted each post to be about my students, not about me.

Blogging was much easier than I expected. I was drawn to it. I generally wrote on Friday nights because I wanted to write while the events were fresh in my mind. My lesson plans purposely included something extraordinary each week, and I was writing about how these events turned out.

Adding pictures was the best part! They brought the text to life. Action shots were not an issue as our parents had signed releases allowing publication of images of their students. As a safety precaution, I used first names only or no names at all. Most images were of book covers, supplies, and finished products. When I used classroom shots, I tried to take them from a distance rather than zooming in on individuals.

Reading the posts is like looking through a scrapbook of our Best of the Best this year. I am celebrating my students and their wonderful work and enjoying memories of everything we did together.

I am also proudly celebrating a teacher who became a writer.


Jan Hamilton has taught English Language Arts in middle schools in Arkansas and Texas for the past twenty years. Read about her adventures on Just Thinking at www.jjhamilton7.wordpress.com. and follow her on Twitter @JanHamilton7.