200 Posts – What do I have to show for it?

Yesterday I reached a mini-milestone when I made my 200th blog post. I started to reflect on what this means, and here’s what I came up with.

Blogging has helped me to identify and focus on my passions as an instructor.

I have focused on my 3 main areas of interest – incorporating MyMathLab into my classes in an effective way, incorporating study skills instruction into my developmental math classes, and creating a community of learners. I know that blogging about these areas has increased my focus on what works best. Choosing the words to relay my thoughts has really helped me to clarify what I’m doing.

I’ve helped a lot of instructors.

I have heard from so many instructors that have incorporated something from my blog into their classes, and I have picked up many ideas from readers who have commented or emailed me. The Internet has increased our ability to share, and sharing is one of the best ways to improve as an educator.

I’ve helped a lot of students.

As I check the number of views for my blogs and the search terms that brought viewers to my blog, I know that many students have been helped on this site. Every day I see hits for factoring trinomials and performing hypothesis tests using the p-value approach. My goal is to eventually hit all of the main topics that developmental math and statistics students struggle with. I try to write blogs that are beneficial to students and instructors.

Who knows if I have another 200 posts in me? I’ll do my best! I think that I have gained more from this than those who are reading my blogs, and I truly enjoy writing. (Which I am sure will surprise my old English instructors!)

-George

I am a math instructor at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, CA. Each Wednesday I post an article related to General Teaching on my blog. If there’s a particular topic you’d like me to address, or if you have a question or a comment, please let me know. You can reach me through the contact page on my website – http://georgewoodbury.com