Happy October everyone! I hope your school is off to a great start! I don’t know about you, but it feels like September has just flown by! I’ve been so busy adjusting to a new school and getting to know my new students that I feel like I’ve barely had time to catch my breath!
For this blog post, I wanted to compile a very short list of blogs for teachers that I have repeatedly gone back to over the years for ideas, resources, or encouragement. My first year of teaching I did not really have a mentor that I felt like I could bounce ideas off of and I felt a little isolated as I tried to keep my head above the water of first-year-teaching. I went to the Internet for a lot of advice and ideas for things like classroom management and organization and I found some very helpful blogs that I still visit on a semi-regular basis.
I am a high school science teacher, but these blogs are good for any teacher of any age or subject. Here are some of my favs:
- Teaching Sam and Scout: Elizabeth is a high school English teacher and blogs about her life as a mom in addition to her life as a teacher. She has great ideas for English lessons, but she also has great advice for classroom set up and organization. I went to her blog a lot as a new teacher for ideas when I got my first classroom and for setting up my first syllabus. She has great stuff for new teachers and great blog posts about teacher life in general for veteran teachers too!
- The Effortful Educator: Blake Harvard teaches AP Psychology and his blog focuses on applying scientific research in memory and cognition in the classroom. Once of my goals for this school year is to incorporate more teaching techniques that are backed by research into my units, so I’ve been going to Blake’s blog a lot over the last couple of months. I follow a lot of teachers on Instagram where I feel that sometimes the focus can seem to be more on educational trends/buzzwords and lessons that look good on social media and classroom decorations than on actual teaching techniques and this blog has been a good balance to all of that. Don’t get me wrong, I love teachergram and I’ve gotten so many good ideas from it, but Blake’s blog reminds me to keep my focus on how can help my students actually LEARN and REMEMBER content rather than on finding lessons that will look good on Instagram.
- The Learning Scientists: This a website and blog that is similar to the Effortful Educator in that it focusing on applying cognitive strategies backed by science in the classroom. There are so many great blog posts and resources for teachers about the science of learning, what we have learned about learning from research, and how to improve instruction. There are also great resources for students on how to make the most out of studying!
- Leading, Learning, Questioning: Aaron Hogan is a principal and has written a book called Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth which I have read and recommend if you are feeling burnt out in your teaching. His blog is also great for reading when you are feel disillusioned and need some inspiration. I also think his blog is especially great for ideas on getting to know students and build rapport with them from the first day of school to the last. Sometimes I like to read his blogs just to remind myself that building relationships with my students if one of the most important things I can do as a teacher.
- Eat, Write, Teach: I love this blog so, so, so much and it’s probably the one I’ve read the most over the last 5 years. Stephanie is an English teacher, so she has great ideas in her content area, but she also has amazing ideas for classroom management and organization. She writes about technology, her classroom set up, and all sorts of new things that she tries out in her classroom each year. If you are a so-to-be teacher and want to know what teaching is really like, you need to read this blog. I appreciate how honest and authentic Stephanie is and I’ve gotten so much inspiration from what she does in her classroom. I can’t recommend this blog enough! Check her out!!
That’s it! I hope through these blogs you might be able to find some inspiration for your own classroom! Comment below if you following any of these blogs or have other recommendations!
Teaching Science IRL 