A New Blogging Venture: What It Is Like To Be A Teacher*

I am very proud to announce another blog with which I am involved: eInstruction Community. The parent site, eInstruction, is a technology company specializing in educational software and hardware for the classroom. Their motto is “Simple solutions. Real results.” A few months ago, I was approached by the company to become a blogger for a new site they were launching that would bring together teachers and school personnel in an online community. The new site went live this week, and I would invite everyone to stop by and check out the features.

The site name is eICommunity, and includes all kinds of resources and ideas for the classroom. There are blogs for kindergarten through twelfth grade as well as the college level. They have resources for downloading, discussion boards, and short recipes for classroom lessons and management called “Best Practices.” These practices include “Success Stories” and a link to add a story.

My attraction to this project is really about the community. Teaching can be an isolating experience—one person in front of a class. The tendency is for a teacher to feel he is the only one going through a particularly difficult time, or facing a classroom issue that is unique to his situation. The fact is, teachers discussing issues means that a member of the community will have support, thereby learning that there are commonalities in practice and problems, issues that we can, through discussion, shed some light on, and find solutions for, and become better educators. Teaching is a craft, a skill, and when true teachers gather together, the discussion is lively and enriching for all of those involved. That is what I hope the eICommunity will become.

My writing on the site will focus on stories from the classroom—what it is like to be a teacher, facing the issues, the difficulties, the successes and the failures. I wanted to take a practical approach, throw out a story or anecdote, and ask readers to submit their ideas and points of view.

So please stop by, read, comment, participate. The art of teaching is the craft of building a future, and this incredibly important vocation needs people called to serve, to teach, to help children discover their futures, their potential.

Meanwhile, I will also continue to post regularly to The Teacher’s View.

*Update: For all those who wish to follow my other blog at eI Community, you must first go to eInstruction to sign up. On the main page at the top there is a link to eI Community. Click on it, and you will be prompted to register. The registration is simply email, name, teaching information (do not worry; you do not have to be a teacher, however, you will be asked for this information so use your high school and be creative) and a few other questions. Do not hesitate to do this; you will not receive tons of ads or annoying emails or anything, but make sure you uncheck the boxes at the bottom. Once you have registered, you will have your login name and password. Then you can login and access the site. I am under "K-12 Blogs." Thanks for the inquiries and interest.