Learning About Teachers' Voices Through Blogging

Teachers are sharing strategies with their school professional learning communities.
Teachers are sitting at the table with principals to create new ideas to improve the school.
Teachers are speaking at school board meetings to address district-wide concerns.
Teachers are attending legislative sessions to ensure teacher voice is present in decision making.
Teachers are using blogs to reflect and share their thoughts on the state of education today.

Teachers tend to believe that no one listens to them, that only parents have the power to make change. They may feel that way, but teacher voice is EVERYWHERE!!!

Blogging is an avenue that many teachers are using to record their reflections, thoughts, feelings, and voice, whether privately or publicly. Some teachers want to share new strategies they have tried in their classroom or their thoughts on a book they just read or a video they just watched. Teachers commonly maintain a blog site as a form of communication with their students and parents. Some blog as a way to bring awareness to public policy. There is really no limit to the reasons why teachers blog. I have been blogging for a few years now but only became more active this past year. I write when I feel inspired or something drives me to write, and I've been inspired and driven a lot this year.

Chris Bronke, an amazing teacher leader from Chicago, recently wrote this post about blogging. I encourage you to read it to understand "why the educational narrative needs more teacher writers".

As I continue my journey of professional growth, I find myself reading blogs about different topics that are expanding my horizons beyond deaf education. However, to best serve my students I do need to learn about the latest research, strategies, curriculum etc for teaching DHH students. I like to see other teachers reflect on their teaching by reading other DHH teacher blogs. It gives me other perspectives on the state of deaf education beyond my own.

Since the August #DeafEd Twitter chat is focusing on professional learning, I wanted to create a list of the different DHH teacher blogs out there. I found several through Google and through solicitation via social media, some of which I read. I encourage all DHH teachers to read each other's blogs, reflect on what they have to say then make comments. Bloggers appreciate feedback and continued discussion on what was written; I know I do.

Let's see if we can make a concerted effort to increase our own professional learning by learning from each other through blogs!

This is just a short list of which I hope will expand. If you have a blog or know of any, please leave it in the comment section below and I will add it to this list! Here is the list, in alphabetical order.

http://clarkemainstream.blogspot.com/
http://edtechdhh.edublogs.org/
http://www.ehwhathuh.com/
http://www.hearingourway.com/#!teaching-our-way/c1idx
http://heidideafed.blogspot.com/
http://pajka.blogspot.com/
https://tcsamaripa.wordpress.com/
https://m.facebook.com/wendancesresourcestpt?ref=bookmarks
http://vandeveldesnews.blogspot.com/ - new

If you don't blog but wish to begin, I encourage you to reach out to the National Blogging Collaborative, that Chris Bronke co-founded and discusses in his blog. This amazing group of teacher leaders from around the U.S. will help you every step of the way!