Karenne Sylvester is organizing a Blog Carnival titled What advice would you like to give a new blogger blogging in ELT?

The deadline to submit a post to it is July 15th, so there’s still time.

I don’t feel particularly profound, or energetic, today, so my contribution will only consist of three pieces of advice I’d like to offer a new blogger:

1. Write posts about something that will help your teaching. I write lots of posts, but they all meet at least one of the following criteria:

* It’s a very, very short post on a website or tool that I’m going to use with my students.  Writing about it helps me remember that it’s out there, and it helps me remember where I’ve placed it on my student self-access website.

* It’s a longer post that contains multiple links on one topic I plan to teach in class. It’s set-up so that I can have students just go to the post directly and use the resources.

* It’s a reflective post that — through writing it — helps me process and think-through some aspect of my own teaching practice.

* It’s a very, very short post linking to someone else’s piece on teaching, research, history, etc. that I think I’ll want to use in the future.  In this case, it functions as sort of my own Delicious bookmarking account.

By sticking to these criteria, it helps me stay committed to blogging regularly, and it helps me become a better teacher.

2.  Write posts off the ideas of other bloggers. There are a lot of great blogger/thinkers out there.  Some of the best posts I’ve written, I think, have been expanded versions of comments I’ve left on other people’s posts.  Of course, always give credit, too.

3. Look for opportunities to recognize others. I try to give exposure to other people’s blog posts, their thinking, their books, etc. (though I could certainly do more).  There’s a lot of great stuff out there and, you know what they say — “What goes around, comes around.”

You might also want to read The Best Sources Of Advice For Teachers (And Others!) On How To Be Better Bloggers.