Teacher Blogging

Jan. 29, 2007, 1:01PM
A new school of bloggers
A growing number of teachers are expressing their views — but most do it anonymously
By JENNIFER RADCLIFFE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
TOOLS
RESOURCES
TEACHERS ONLINE

Some blogs by educators:
• Libby Nicole Ingrassia at www.notesgirl.com
• John Pearson at learnmegood2.blogspot.com/

• "Mike in Texas " at educationintexas.blogspot.com/

• "Ms. H " at moldingyoungminds.blogspot.com/
After long days of grading papers and disciplining rowdy children, a growing number of tech-savvy teachers are creating online journals to vent about the stresses of the profession.
Educators who have already embraced the technology — called blogs (short for web logs) — find themselves walking a fine, virtual line of conduct. They strive to entertain and inform, but can't violate their school districts' ethics policies or federal laws designed to protect students' confidentiality.
Most teachers who blog have opted to do so underground — refusing to cite their names, workplaces or other identifying details — to avoid potential professional pitfalls.
"School administrators tend to be pretty vindictive and they don't like people with different ideas from them. People who speak out are not regarded very highly," said Mike in Texas, an elementary school science teacher from East Texas, who started an online diary two years ago as a way of defending public education.
Though he often waxes about the value of the system, Mike in Texas has been known to rant about the "Mother of All Idiot Parents" or his boss, the "Clueless Principal."
"Some days I think I would like to have her job because I know how I would do things, and some days I wouldn't want that job for anything," he wrote in a recent entry. "Or as we say, some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue."
Teachers, initially slow to try out the medium, are publishing blogs at rapidly increasing rates — partly because they see the online journals as a way to have their opinions heard, experts say.
"Teachers' public voices have less and less currency in the education market with respect to deciding what benefits children," said Michele Knobel, an education professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey. "Blogs can become a forum for voicing frustration with the ongoing de-professionalization of teaching and the sidelining of teacher wisdom and experience."
The number of blogs about "teaching" or "teachers" tracked by Technorati.com has jumped 10 percent in less than six months to nearly 950. LiveJournal, one of the most popular blogging sites, lists about 415 chat communities interested in teaching.

A delicate balance
Libby Nicole Ingrassia, a techie-turned-teacher, admits that most of her coworkers are far behind the blogging curve. The first-year KIPP Houston High School teacher has been blogging since 2000.

"Most teachers here might be aware of blogging, but only on the peripheral," said Ingrassia, who keeps a blog called Notesgirl.
Still, she said she expects to see a rise in both the number of teachers who keep personal blogs and the number who use blogs to communicate with students about assignments.
Though Ingrassia is open about her blog, most teachers aren't willing to reveal their identities. They say they're afraid of getting fired, upsetting their coworkers or violating federal laws that protect their students' confidentiality.
In the Cyber world, these chatty, often frustrated, teachers pour their thoughts out under screen names like "Bud the Teacher," "Hip Teacher" and "Cool Cat Teacher."
Some teacher-bloggers predict that their districts may soon draft rules outlining what employees can and can't say online.
Most Houston-area districts have remained silent on the issue of what teachers may post on their blogs, although the Katy school district issued a stern warning to employees last fall after some expressed concern about educators and students chatting online.

A right to blog
"While the district does not have the authority to prevent district employees from subscribing to these types of applications from their homes or from exercising their rights to free speech, employees are held accountable for adhering to the state code of ethics for educators," wrote Lenny Schad, Katy's deputy superintendent for information and technology services.

Gayle Fallon, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said districts can't restrict teachers from commenting on public matters.
They can, however, forbid teachers from revealing students' identities or from using taxpayer resources for personal pursuits.
"They have an absolute right to blog," Fallon said. "Just not on school time, not on school computers — even if it's lunch, it's still a school computer."
Fallon said teachers must also be careful when they post stories about their students. While talking about unidentified students isn't yet addressed in policy, most teachers said they have the good sense to avoid bad-mouthing the youngsters they teach.
"Mr. AB," a young elementary school teacher in San Jose, Calif., admits to originally using his blog to vent about students. He said he's now found a better subject-matter balance for his blog, called "The Trenches."
"I've deeply curtailed any negative blogging about students," he said. "There've been a number of pieces I've started to write and then decided not to finish because I've thought, 'If I were a parent, I would not want my student's teacher posting this about them.' "

'Free therapy'
"Ms. H," a 35-year-old high school teacher in the Fort Worth area who keeps a blog called Molding Young Minds, said she gets pretty personal about her experiences, telling readers about a former student who she's taken under her wing.
She said she got hefty criticism on her blog when some readers thought she crossed a line by giving students rides home. The teacher said she usually appreciates the feedback from fellow teachers across the country.
"It's free therapy," she said. "It's turned out to be really useful for venting and thinking through stuff."

Thoughts for the holidays

December 21,2006
The year 2006 is soon coming to a close. There are lots to celebrate and be thankful for. Receiving the BCRP Award was delightful.
Learning about Podcasting and ways to utilize this technology in our everyday work is phenomenal. Although I am still in the foundational stage due to job and time constraints, I hope to learn more about the process so it becomes job embedded in the future.
I read an article today about professors at a University using cell phones and other tools of technology to communicate with their students, ie. retrieve schedules, share information, view assignments etc.
You can preview this site for more information at www.ravewireless.com/index.html
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL BLOGGERS.
Dr. Lewis

cNet

November 2, 2006

On October 30, 2006, I attended a cNet meeting at one of my Superintendent schools. It was evident after the discussion on the CWT’s and data review that the school needs to work on embedding vocabulary and building fluency skills in grades 3-5.

I am contemplating meeting with either the 3rd, or 5th grade team to discuss how they are planning to implement these skills into their daily instruction.

Reflective questions may include:
Teacher expectations
Student expectations, and lesson plans
Plan for implementation and monitoring

If teachers in the group is are willing to have some of these sessions video taped, I will tape the sessions and use this as a springboard for reflective practice.

If you have suggestions please feel free to post them on my blog. Thanks.

Curious About

I have been thinking about how to utilize this technology to enhance my visits with Educators. Randee and I had a terrific conversation on how he is utilizing the video clips to promote this resource to other pratictioners.
I also had an opportunity to acquire a copy of these clips. I will transfer these to my ipod soon.
In addition, I checked out the resources on the cab conference and was impressed with the postings.
Currently, I need to find the connection to this new resource and my current work so it can model the job embedded process.