When I started researching education blogs, I picked the three that I frequent most often and find the most helpful . They all contain easily accessible material and research that is related to what I teach. The three I researched (Cult of Pedagogy, Edutopia, and WeAreTeachers) are written rather informally, as if you were “sitting at happy hour with a really smart teacher friend who totally gets you.” (“Seeking Guest Writers”, Gonzalez). And that makes it feel like you’re truly getting content from other teachers, not just researchers or academic writers.
The creator of the blog Cult of Pedagogy, Jennifer Gonzalez, started the blog to “create what [she] did not have [her]self: a vibrant, encouraging, stimulating community of teachers, supporting each other toward excellence.” (“Who We Are”, Cult of Pedagogy) She produces most of the content herself based on her own research and classroom anecdotes as a former middle school language arts teacher and a pre-service teacher educator. Cult of Pedagogy categorized their blog posts into three major categories: The Craft, with subcategories of Instruction, Classroom Management, and Technology; Go Deep: Learning Theory, Leadership, Career & PD, Book Reviews, and Hot Topics; and Teacher Soul: Attitude Adjustments, Working Together, Inspiration, and Stories. She produces content that is relatable, relevant, and useful to teachers of all ages and content.
Edutopia takes a similar approach, and was actually founded by George Lucas! (did not know that!) They are “dedicated to transforming K-12 education so that all students can acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to thrive in their studies, careers, and adult lives.” (https://www.edutopia.org/about) Their focus is more targeted by providing resources that help teachers “implement six transformational strategies: project-based learning, social and emotional learning, comprehensive assessment, teacher development, integrated studies, and technology integration.” (https://www.edutopia.org/about/core-strategies) Similarly to Cult of Pedagogy, they also focus on using stories and research from educators who tell of their own experiences with those six strategies, in hopes of helping other educators reach their mission stated above.
Lastly, WeAreTeachers pitches themselves as a “virtual teacher’s lounge” whose “mission is to inspire teachers and help them succeed by sharing practical classroom ideas, the best freebies and giveaways, and teacher-to-teacher advice and humor.” (https://www.weareteachers.com/about-weareteachers/) Again, they focus on the real world of teaching by sharing real life stories from teachers as a means of collaborating and commiserating— and finding humor in our lives and jobs as educators.
It was interesting though to research how each site selected guest bloggers. While the editor for Cult of Pedagogy produces most of the content herself, she does accept guest bloggers occasionally. She places an emphasis on authors who are sharing their own experiences in the classroom in a “down-to-earth voice” (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qNRtQ7S1wFivJUjN_yEr_uqUxPjOvqXT-hze–mbGYs/edit) These guest bloggers would also be required to respond to comments on their blogs and participate in the podcast for the blog. This editor emphasizes the connection between her content and the readers, and she wants it to be personal and relatable.
Edutopia also requests stories from their guest bloggers on strategies they’ve used in class related to the core strategies listed above. Interestingly, they clearly state that the content must be original, not previously published articles. They provide example pitches that have been accepted and resources to inspire writers. Edutopia truly encourages their teacher-readers to share their experiences in hopes of inspiring their readers to try something new that could positively impact their students.
Finally, WeAreTeachers accepts “submissions on a wide range of topics pertaining to education and teacher life.” (https://www.weareteachers.com/write-for-weareteachers/) Personally, they seem to be more of Buzzfeed style blog, with a combination of humor and news and advice, and their “Write for us” page seemed to contain the least restrictive guidelines for submissions. However, they did seem to be the only blog of the three with a monetary award for an approved guest submission.
I noticed that for guest blogging, all three blogs did require that their submissions be from teachers in the classroom about topics pertaining to classroom teachers and educators. They all focused on real-world applications and experiences of teaching strategies or tools or topics. None required something like a background check for your credibility, but they all seem to value the professionalism of our job that frankly, a large swath of the population seems not to. Me? I love the realism that the blogs all bring to our job, and that they make me feel like I’m not alone in the trying and failing and trying again that our job entails on a daily basis. I value their content, whether it’s intended to be humorous or educational or useful for me.
Resources
Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/about
https://www.edutopia.org/about/your-turn-write-us
Cult of Pedagogy. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qNRtQ7S1wFivJUjN_yEr_uqUxPjOvqXT-hze–mbGYs/edit
WeAreTeachers. https://www.weareteachers.com/about-weareteachers/
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