In today’s ePortfolio input we were all asked to look at some of our peers work, reflect on the way in which our peers are crafting their professional thoughts and to write about what they are getting from doing this and how others may benefit from reading their work. I have also chosen to share the posts in this blog so anyone reading can go and take a look at these fantastic examples of brilliant writing.
Lauren Duncan’s post 5 6 7…DANCE! was one that I really liked reading because the writer, has taken her own experiences as a dancer and reflected on how she can use them in the classroom which is a personal touch I found very creative and very thoughtful. Her experiences and knowledge about dance is vast and reads really well. This is something I have never thought about doing. I do have experiences of different things throughout my life with photos I could share and never have. This way the reader of the post can see how passionate the writer is about that topic, in this case dance.

Layla Dawson’s ePortfolio post Fear of Feedback really resonated with some of the ways I feel about giving feedback. Especially that feeling of guilt I always feel after leaving constructive feedback or criticism. She writes in an easy to read yet professional manner, something which I can take from this post. Not using long complicated words in posts to make yourself sound clever is vital for teachers, because your audience will eventually be children. I also think something I can take on board from this post is mentioning something which I think is a good or positive idea, but still writing about the issues that come with it. Layla has done this when mentioning 2 stars and a wish. I should not be scared to write about the improvements that can be made with certain ideas or what people have said. Not everything has to be taken with a positive attitude and part of being a professional is finding the right way of putting across what the problem is with these ideas.

In Claire Beattie’s post, she has written about something that is completely unrelated to what we have been asked to do by our tutors. The Ability Grouping Debate Continues is a fresh idea, taken from something she has read which is something I need to do more of. By keeping up to date with what is happening in the news, using recommended reading and reading from other places like magazines and newspapers is just some of the ways I can gain fresh ideas for my posts. I thought something else that I can take from Claires post is the way she used visual aids. I try to use relevant and interesting visual aids like pictures and videos in my posts but this is something I can try to do more of to make the post more interactive and fun.

I think overall, reading these three posts and any others will help me to learn the different ways in which I can make my posts more professional, enticing for others to read, interactive and more reflective. Something that I tend to do is stick to my normal way of writing a post which I have become comfortable with. Furthermore, when you are a teacher you will be put in different situations and if you cannot reflect and learn from other writings, you will not be a professional educator. It is my hope that by reading these excellent examples it may help me to become the professional writer and educator I strive to become. I take any constructive criticism I can on board and am extremely grateful for it, so if you have anything to share or ways I can improve my posts please share them with me by commenting or emailing me so I can become the professional and good educator I have always wanted to be.