Teacher Blogger chat at MAV Conference 2015

At MAV Con the other day I sent out a tweet to catch up with other teacher bloggers:

It was a small meeting (only 2 of us), but I was happy to have the opportunity to meet with fellow teacher blogger Michaela Epstein. Aside from a great chat that touched on our backgrounds, motivations for teaching, and even spaced repetition software,  Michaela and I turned to a few questions that I'd drafted up to get into the why, how, and what of our blogging approaches. Enjoy : )

Michaela Epstein

Practicalities

• twitter handle: @mic_epstein
• blog address?: https://michaelaepstein.wordpress.com/ 
• Where are you based (as much detail as you’d like to give)?: Melbourne

Juicy Q's

• Why do you blog?: Initially was to give non-teachers an insight into what actually happens in schools and give an understanding of the social side and social justice side of the school context. Since starting teaching it’s taken on a maths/social justice focus.
  • What part/s of your blog/blogging are going well?: Get good feedback from people who read it. A useful way to express some complex ideas that I think about then communicate that with others. Good way to start interesting conversations.
  • Which blogging/social media apps or programs do you find core to the way you do what you do in the blogosphere?: Twitter is being used more and more, easy, quick, can share stuff, low barriers to entry and great way to connect with others.
  • What is a challenge that you’re contending with at the moment w.r.t your blogging/use of social media?: Not doing it /not doing it regularly.
  • What’s your favourite Ed blog?: www.mathwithbaddrawing.com   it’s a U.S dude now in the UK (also social commentary on maths education). His blogs are usually just cartoons with annotations on those cartoons.
  • Why?: This website gets to the crux of the philosophical issues that we deal with as maths teachers.

Ollie Lovell

Practicalities

• Twitter handle: @ollie_lovell
• Blog address?: www.ollielovell.com
• Where are you based (as much detail as you’d like to give)?: Melbourne, gonna be doing research with a Northern Metropolitan Region school in 2016.

Juicy Q's

• Why do you blog?: To sort through my own ideas, share what I do in my classroom, and as a way to force me to reflect on books, conference, etc.
• How would you describe the focus of your blog?: It’s really about my learning journey. I’ve taken the title ollielovell.com so that I can be really flexible just to be me and explore and blog about what’s relevant for me. Main foci are wot-I-got from various conferences/books, what I’m trying out in my own class, and my learning journey more broadly
• What part/s of your blog/blogging are going well?: I’ve enjoyed particularly sharing some of my classroom approaches recently.
• Which blogging/social media apps or programs do you find core to the way you do what you do in the blogosphere?: The Google Docs Add-on Docs to WordPress. Allows me to write posts in google docs then export to WordPress. Saves a bunch of time in uploading photos and makes it easier to collaborate on posts.
• What is a challenge that you’re contending with at the moment w.r.t your blogging/use of social media?:
  • Keeping up with twitter and sorting the wheat from the chaff!
  • Ordering/sorting the content on my website to make it easier for punters to use
• What’s your favourite Ed blog?: Dan Meyer’s blog and the less well known BetterExplained.
  • Why?: Dan’s creativity and the way that he does things in his class blows my mind. Kalid’s work on BetterExplained has helped me to understand maths better.