Why I Blog

I thought it would be a good idea to clarify (mostly for myself!) why I have decided to start blogging*. So here goes!


I've always thought of blogs as focused on either self-promotion or a bit like airing your dirty laundry - hence the image at the top of this page! I'm not really into either of those things so I've avoided setting up a blog. Until now.

However, I was wrong to think of blogs in this way and I've been inspired by a number of bloggers -  Stephen Lethbridge, Steve Mouldey, Kyla Hansell, Paula Hogg and the Manaiakalani blog to name a few. I've also been encouraged to do this by people like Danielle Myburgh from Hobsonville Point Secondary School and inventor of #edchatnz on Twitter and of course my wonderful colleagues across CORE are always encouraging each other to blog. I've learned lots from reading interesting blogs and have been inspired to reflect on my own practice or on areas that I am interested in and what they mean for my practice as a professional learning facilitator. 

You'll also notice that most of my online profiles show that I have an interest in:

• collaboration
• inquiry
• change
• leadership
• engagement
• equity

I completed my Master of Education thesis in 2011 and this was focused on collaborative practice and leadership practices related to this. I work with clusters/networks of schools/ECE who need help to clarify effective collaboration and to plan at a macro level for their work. This is a key area of expertise for me and I really want to share what I know with others as much as possible and in a practical way.

My other areas of interest above are also part of what I work on with clusters and networks. I'm interested in challenging myself to reflect on all of these areas in terms of what I know about what works to help others to shift into more effective practice in these spaces.

So (I think) the purpose of this blog* is: to share my expertise with others and to reflect on the above areas of interest to improve my own practice as a fledgling facilitator (I started facilitation work in 2012). As I work mainly with school and ECE leaders and middle leaders, they will be my main audience but the information will be useful to classroom teachers who want to understand what impacts on teaching and learning at this level.

I will probably introduce new areas of interest that I want to learn more about too - including student agency, future focused education and modern learning environments and pedagogies. 

I am also looking to set up a space in this blog* for curation of my "favourite" tweets. I'm still thinking about this - whether the blog* is the best place for that and how I would organise this. Any advice welcome!!

I hope you enjoy reading my posts and I look forward to receiving feedback and challenges from you so that I can learn more.


* did you notice that little asterisk? Good. After a short Twitter conversation with Jon Mullen we quickly agreed that we think "blog" is a dropkick sounding word. Jon then came up with a new name - "thoughtmongery" so that is what this space of mine is going to be referred to from now onwards. Please enjoy my thoughtmongery.

Image credit: R Sweeney, 2014