Teachers' Guide to Bloglovin'

Why do I love teaching blogs? 

One of my favorite parts of teaching is building relationships with fellow educators.  There is something about serving the community while "being in the trenches" and struggling alongside your colleagues that brings you closer together and forms lifelong friendships.  Blogs are means of extending that collaboration with other teachers around the nation and world.  No longer are we limited by the ideas of other teachers at our site or district.  Our collaboration is limitless!

What is Bloglovin'?

Bloglovin' is a website (and app!) that allows you to follow your favorite blogs all in one place.  I love that Bloglovin' has a very clean, intuitive interface that is easy and efficient to navigate.

What are some features of Bloglovin'?

Search for blogs:
There is an integrated search bar that allows you to find ANY blog you would like to follow.  If a blog is not currently in the database, you can add it by entering the page's web address (URL).

Find new blogs to follow:
Browse by category or scroll through recommended blogs that are similar to other blogs you follow.  Currently, there is no education category (that will be coming soon), so when browsing you would use "OTHER".  I have found it more helpful to scroll through the suggested blogs that are based on similar blogs that I follow.

Edit the blogs you follow:
Not only will all blog posts be available to view in one feed, but you can also assign group titles to organize all of your blogs.  This way you can filter your feed to keep it uncluttered from unrelated blog posts that you may want to follow.  For example, I have my teaching and food blogs in separate groups so I can focus on reading one topic at a time.  This can be a huge timesaver for someone like
myself who is very easily distracted.

Like posts to easily find again later:
On your feed, under each blog post is an option to like a post.  This does two things: it communicated to the blogger that you found their post helpful and would be interested in similar posts and it also earmarks that post so you can easily go back and find it later.  Considering I rarely have the opportunity to immediately apply what I read, this is an essential feature.

How do I set up a Bloglovin' account?

To set up a Bloglovin' account all you need is an email address (you can also connect with your Facebook account) and three blogs that you would like to follow.  I highly recommend finding blogs that are specific for the grade level/subject you teach.  Once you have three or more blogs to follow, creating an account will only take a couple minutes.

Find teaching blogs organized by grade level and subject:

What are your favorite features of Bloglovin'?  I would love to hear how Bloglovin' has helped expand your collaboration with other teachers.  Feel free to share your comments below.