Were you planning on making 2015 the year if your epic blog journey, only to stumble because you couldn't find anything "bloggable"? Veteran teacher-blogger Nat Banting began 2015 by placing some of the blog content around the blogosphere in a more realistic context.  At times it can feel unrealistic as an aspiring blogger when you feel the pressure to always post amazing exceptional vignettes from your classroom.  Teaching isn't simply about producing a series of hit after hit.  Nat says this view of blogging "gives the impression that there exists a teacher that operates in a bloggable state at all times. This is discouraging and delusional."  Instead, think about the blog as the observation of clusters of interesting connections being made across the classroom.  The complex nature of classroom teacher is like a fractal, and the blog content is merely an observation of where the most interesting connections are taking place.  (Btw... If you are trying to get started like I am, perhaps you want to start with a weekly summary post, like these by @sophgermain and@mathymeg07)

I periodically come across blog posts that warrant greater scrutiny than my usual clipping into EverNote for future reference.  My [admittedly clunky but works for me] system is to paste a link to the post into an email and leave it in my Drafts folder - because my goal is ALWAYS to empty the Drafts folder, I revisit the link again and again until I am satisfied that I have fully digested the content.  Such was the case with Matt Vaudrey's post "Class Routine", which he wrote almost 2 years ago.   The line that grabbed and resonated with me was " My goal is a self-starting classroom".  How many of us envision well-routinized students, doing what they are supposed to when they enter our rooms, so that they can begin to partake of the brilliant activities we have designed for them?  

 

Matt clearly describes (described?) the structures he put into place - investing that important up-front time at the start of the school year for great rewards later on - which not only keep his classroom moving smoothly, but also empower his students to direct their own behavior in ways which will maximize their participating and learning.  And while his routines may not be the ones which every teacher would use, the blog post is a blueprint for moving in that direction in your own classroom - well worth a close reading (or two or three...).

 

And when you're finished, I highly recommend clicking back a few posts to Mr. Vaudrey's entertaining ruminations on Stupidity and Adolescence.