I was very hesitant about blogging as a professional and in terms of student blogging. As Pernell Ripp @pernilleripp said in a twitter chat one night, there is a huge pressure for teachers to meticulously micromanage every blog post to ensure that every piece is high quality, exemplary work that is suitable for public viewing. However, that’s not real. Peeking into a child’s writer’s notebook reveals all of their story seeds, their creative process, their progress over time. A classroom blog should be the same way. I am really, tremendously proud of my students’ blog and the 21,000 views it’s gotten since its induction in February. I wish I had done it sooner! Parents have been leaving comments, as have students in other classes in our school, other teachers in our school, students in other COUNTRIES. It has opened doors and possibilities to my students that I couldn't have imagined. Was there fear on my part? Yes. How would the blog be received by parents, administration, and the overall community? There is a lot of fear about privacy, safety, and appropriateness online. Initially, I really stressed the importance of our role as trailblazers in our school for student blogging, how important it was for us to dispel those fears. To prove that blogging is a beneficial, safe, way to authentically foster literacy in the 21st century! Students have been posting EVERYTHING from things we’ve learned about in school, to opinion pieces, to journaling, to websites they’ve created. It has been incredible to open this door and watch the students run through it.
Professionally, I was concerned about voicing my opinions about educational topics on a blog. After all I’d already been given a slap on the wrist by posting on facebook, “Just curious teacher friends, what’s the largest class size you’ve ever had?” What would happen if I even mentioned being a teacher somewhere else? Well, nothing happened. Funny, when you disconnect with the district (remove them as an employer on social media) “big brother” stops watching. Am I hesitant to say certain things still? Yes. I choose my words carefully, treading lightly. However, I’m also willing to stir the pot a little, to express my political concerns with the Common Core and SBAC testing. I’m not venting about the kids, I’m advocating FOR them. In fact, I recently decided that my next blog post will be about SBAC: A letter from the kids. Parents, administrators, teachers, and politicians are speaking out about SBAC and the Common Core, but the ones whose voices are silent, are the kids. I’m publishing on behalf of them. Their voices deserve to be heard. They’re the ones taking the test for the next 9 years, not us.
I think every teacher should know that technology is scary for all of us. Not because of online predators, or risque websites, but because of the persecution and scrutiny of our profession. If anything, EVER, bad happens to a child, the finger comes pointing back to us, whether it’s a scraped knee on the playground, a forgotten lunch box, or a less than desirable standardized test score. However, to succumb to fear is to do a disservice to the children. The digital world is here, and it’s going to impact their generation more than any other generation before them. As Kathy Cassidy (2013) mentions in “Connected from the Start,” we can’t expect the child to cross the street without scaffolding that experience. We teach them the rules of the road. How to look both ways before crossing. We hold their hands when they’re small. We watch from the sidewalk when they get a bit older. Eventually, we trust them to cross without us watching. But if we teach them to fear the road, to cower at the sight of cars- they’ll be stifled.We have to become leaders in ways we haven’t had to in the past, and even though it’s scary, we’ll do it, because our loyalties lie where they always have- with the children.
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