August 15, 2007

• This article, found on The Guardian, brings up a lot of insights into teacher blogs and teacher blogging; however, “Lectrice, in Blackboard Jungle, describes how, despite having been bullied herself as a teenager, she was unable to spot it happening in her own classroom.” Now, granted, I don’t know where she teaches or what level she’s teaching at, but whether I was student-teaching 8th graders in West Fargo or teaching 9-12 in lakes country of Minnesota or at NDSU or here at NDSCS, I’ve witnessed bullying. All sorts. Non-verbal and verbal. Based on race, intelligence, gender, sexual orientation – you name it. Either she’s not looking very hard (and “looking” would be a hard word to define here, obviously), or she’s got sneaky students.

  With that said, I haven’t really known what to do with bullies and the bullied, but still, it’s THERE and it sucks (for lack of a better word). I was bullied blahblahblah and at any level, what can a teacher really do but holler at the bully and then later find out that caused even more problems for the bullied person(s)? The bullied need to simply stand up for themselves (but that’s a whole other opinion I’ll get into later if ever).

  Anyhow, beyond that one paragraph, I enjoyed the other “items to note”: the blurriness of the anonymity of teacher blogs, the fact that in five years there may be blogging rules for teachers, the possibility that a blog entry could get one dismissed, the idea that the blog could end up showing more of the negative (due to the therapuetic nature of writing) aspects of teaching versus the positive… the list goes on. It’s nice to see an entry about the implications of blogging after so many years of “what is a blog?” type of articles. And while this article does point out the negatives to blogging (in the teaching profession), it shows the FABULOUS USES to the activity – teachers sharing ideas with teachers and non-teachers, getting feedback, reflection on one’s practices, much needed venting space (private or public), and having a place for students to go to for help/advice/feedback/announcements.

  Sidenote: If your significant other was going to be on The Real World, wouldn’t you just want to break up with them because they are OBVIOUSLY going to cheat on you? That show has lost its edge & meaning.

  • 9:48 pm
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