Why Another Blog?

In 2013, I began a teaching blog called Mrs. Laffin's Laughings. I would blog here several times a week, writing about the lessons and activities we were doing in my 4th grade classroom. I "met" a lot of other teacher bloggers, learned how beneficial it is to reflect on my teaching practice in writing, and came across some great ideas that I could use in my own classroom.

Then in 2014, I felt the call to expand the things I wrote about beyond my classroom. I started Sweet Writing Life as a place where I could reflect on more personal things -- my family, my goals, my hobbies, my writing, my thoughts, and more. As time passed, I began publishing ALL of my thinking at Sweet Writing Life, including my teaching ideas, pretty much ending my time with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings.

Now two years later, I feel the need to begin a new chapter in my writing life where I can once again blog about my classroom and teaching philosophies. I am teaching a new grade level and have learned so much more about teaching and education that I feel these thoughts need a new space, separate from my other thoughts on writing and life.

Why not go back to Mrs. Laffin's Laughings? Because after starting Sweet Writing Life, I began to notice that each blog drew a different kind of audience.  Mrs. Laffin's Laughings ran in a circle with other teaching blogs written by teacherpreneurs who spent many of their posts promoting their Teacher Pay Teacher products. I did that for awhile, but it got old for me. I wanted to serve the educators who took their valuable time to read my posts instead of trying to sell them something. I felt that my teaching ideas and blogging needed a fresh start.

Hence, Sweet Teaching Life was born.

So, this is the place where I will be sharing my classroom teaching thoughts while my other writing can still be found at Sweet Writing Life.

I hope you can find something in either of these places that creates a spark within you. If you like one of my ideas and try it yourself, great! I'd love to hear about it. Try something and it didn't quite work? Let's brainstorm some solutions. I become a better educator through the connections I make with other educators. (You can reach me by leaving a comment on a blog post or emailing me directly at jhlaffin@gmail.com.)

I would love to connect with you!

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