so you want to start blogging...

If you're at the stage where you want to start up your own blog, we're going to assume that you know enough about things to know how to sign up for a blog. Although Blogger is a popular blogging site, many math teacher bloggers have found that Wordpress serves their purposes better. Besides having a lot of sleek themes to choose from, Wordpress allows a lot of customization. Additionally, and most importantly, it has an easy way to type math equations.

Sign up for a free Wordpress.com blog now. (One note: Wordpress.org is different from what we're using... make sure you go to the right site!)

You now have the gloriously fun task of choosing a website name, choosing a theme for how the blog looks, and all that other design stuff! You are also going to have to decide whether to use your real name and talk about your school or not. Here are some various bloggers's perspectives. There are pros and cons to both.

But the real question is how do you write the good stuff...

advice from two long term bloggers... advice that overlaps and contradicts

Kate Nowak 

So you want to start a blog.

What you should not do: Email me. I mean, I don't mind, but I'm just going to be generically encouraging. I've been getting deluged lately, so this post is a public service. "Start a blog" must be a popular summer project for teachers this year. I'm sure commenters will add many helpful suggestions I didn't think of, so be sure to check them out, too. Also note: I violate these pointers all the time! They're just suggestions.


What you should do before you start:

• Start reading. Set up Google Reader [editor's note: GR is now dead], subscribe to every blog you can find that's like the one you want to start. Check your reader at least once a week. You don't have to read every word. Read the posts that interest you.
• Start commenting. Don't just use your first name if it's common. Especially if it's "Dan" "Dave" or "Matt." Use your last name or make up a hilarious or distinctive nom de plume. Also, don't just comment to comment. Say intelligent things. Add to the conversation. Point to good resources or tell a helpful anecdote. 
• Pick a title that stands out, that people will see the title and think, "Oh yeah. That guy." Don't choose a title with "Math" in it. Don't choose a title that only differs by one word or letter than someone else's blog. It might take you a while to think of a good name. It's ok. Take your time. You're going to be stuck with it.
• Write a tagline that concisely describes your purpose.
• Optional: Get on Twitter. Contribute to the conversation there.
  
  
  

When you start writing:

• Add your link to the comments you write, so people can follow it and get to your blog.
• Some people publish several times a day, some a few times a week, some go months between posts. I don't think it really matters, as long as what you do publish is worth reading.
• Give each post a title that makes the reader wonder what it's about and want to read on.
• Don't be afraid to post about your failures as well as your successes.
• Tell a story. Give it a beginning, middle, and end. Include an illustrative anecdote about how it went down in your class. Dialog helps, which you can totally make up if you need to.
• Avoid posting fodder just for the sake of posting, such as : embedded videos without commentary that adds to its viewing, lists of links to other blogs, etc.
• Stick to the topic. Don't badmouth anyone. Try not to complain too much.
• Credit and link back to ideas you got from and references you make to other people's work.
  
  
  

Realizing I May Have Buried the Lede:

• Be generous. This community is a gift culture - sharing is how reputations are built and respect is earned. If you have worked hard on a successful lesson, it's worth writing up. Share your presentation files, handouts, dynamic geometry sketches. There are many sites that allow you to share documents for free, and BetterLesson has a nice platform for this now. 

Some suggestions for getting more readers:

• Don't be too focused on hit counts or number of subscribers. Are you learning from your written reflections? Are you having worthwhile conversations? Isn't that why you're doing this?
• The best way to get people to read you is to write original content worth reading.
• Volunteer to curate and host a carnival like Math Teachers at Play.
• Keep commenting elsewhere, and including the link back to you.
  
  
  

How to manage comments:

• Acknowledge insightful comments and keep the conversation going for as long as it makes sense.
• Respond to direct questions to you.
• Learn to tell the difference between commenters who want to discuss legitimate differences in opinion and issues raised by your post, and the ones who just want to drag you into a pointless holy war. Engage the former.

I hope that helps. Good luck!

Sam Shah

1. Don’t worry about your blog name. I know a few people who want to start blogs but agonize over getting “the best, most punny, insightful name that captures the essence of what you want to do.” That’s cool. I think I spent an eternity trying to find the best Google Voice phone number, so I get it. I remember I spent at least 2 hours trying to come up with a killer name. But I’ve known people who’ve agonized over it to the point where they never got started. So agonize, but give yourself a short deadline. “By the end of today, I will have started my blog. No. Matter. What.” A rose by any other name…

My story: I gave up on my search for ‘the best name’ and just went with a cool fact I learned (that you can have a function which is continuous everywhere but differentiable nowhere). Totally makes no connection to what I write. So what.


2. Choose WordPress. I know everyone says it doesn’t matter whether to choosewordpress.com or blogger.com. I’ve used both and I have a strong preference for WordPress.com. The themes are sleeker (in my opinion), there are more control options, and most importantly, you can easily type equations. I am a huge, huge fan.

My story: I’ve written in livejournal in college, started two blogs (one of them a group blog) using Blogger in grad school, and now I’m a committed devotee of WordPress. However, maybe Blogger has more options since I abandoned it? I won’t knock it, but I know WordPress is awesome.

3. Write like nobody’s watching. Okay, this piece of advice might either sound obvious or counter-intuitive. But it’s the one I most believe in. And I assume you want to blog because you want to engage with others, right? You’ve been out there reading stuff, and you’re like, “ME WANT TOO!” At least that’s what happened to me. But guess what? If you blog for yourself, you’re going to want to write stuff — and it won’t be a chore.

And write about anything and everything related to teaching that you want. Don’t feel restricted to post only about this or that. Make your blog less about being your blog and more about whatever you want to say, and let it grow organically into whatever it turns into. Try not to make it into something — let it grow into being something.

In other words: blog for yourself.

My story: I kept my blog private for four (or more?) months. I was writing for me. I eventually got fed up with just leaving comments responding to others, and never really getting to say anything of my own. So I made it public. But I just kept on keeping on. Writing about whatever I felt like. If I cared about getting a readership, I wouldn’t have posted about multivariable calculus. (Something I post about a lot, actually.) My blog was and always will be (until I grow tired of it) an archive of my teaching.

4. Corollary: Keep at it. Guess what? Don’t be concerned about blog stats and visitors. Remember, you’re writing for you. People will see it. I promise. Okay, yes, you’re going to start looking at the stats. You won’t be able to help it. And you’ll feel good when the numbers are up and the numbers are down. That’s cool. I mean, who doesn’t want to be popular? But I guess the message is: be popular on your own terms. Or another way to put it: be yourself.

My story:  My first post was in August 2007. I’ve written 422 posts since then — not including this one. The average number of visits for my first couple months was 15 and 14 visits/day respectively. What you’ll notice is that if you keep chugging away at it, your numbers will go up. Just by the sheer fact that you have been writing more. So more people will stumble upon it. And more google searches will end up on it.

5. Watch what you write. Okay, so I said write for yourself, and I went on and on about it. But you are making this public. So the best rule of thumb: don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your kids, your administration, or a potential employer to see.

My story: I stick to this. I don’t write when I’m angry. I sometimes write when I’m disappointed – but mainly with myself.

6. Perfection isn’t attainable. I know some bloggers talk about having a ton of posts in draft form. Writing and revising. And revising. Heck, if you have an idea, just take the 30 minutes to pound it out and press PUBLISH. Agonizing sucks, and isn’t worth it for something you do for fun. As a lark.

My story: I write, I publish. Sometimes two or three things in a day! Sometimes only once in two weeks. I don’t let a schedule dictate anything. But sometimes, when it’s been a week or two, and I haven’t written anything and I have some spare time, I try something. I sit down in front of my laptop and for 10 minutes, I think if I have anything to write about. Usually I come up with something. The only time I let time linger between when I write something and when I post it is if I hesitate pushing that publish button — which is a sign to me that there is something in it that I’m not comfortable with. Usually something that relates to #5.

Obviously this is what works for me, and it may not be your style. I just really want to say: DON’T STRESS ABOUT IT. Just have fun with it, and don’t worry about it too much, and have fun with it. Oh wait, I said that twice. Well, I meant it.