It is only 9:00 pm and I am exhausted. Don’t get me wrong; I am suffering from the fatigue that comes from hard work and personal fulfillment. I have been working very hard lately and my brain is a buzz and snapping a bit too quickly at times. Perhaps I need another sojourn into the jungle, or some deep breathing, mediation or a simple dip in the ocean, but a break is not on the agenda for a few more weeks. So I need to roll up the sleeves, plug-in and see where this train is headed.
I started teaching a course called DC101 for teachers at my school. It meets twice a week for one and half hours; it is on my mind 24/7. I sometimes wake up in the middle of night and think about ways to convince people to blog. It is crazy. I have become the school lightening rod for all things digital. This constant need to be the voice for the 21st century can be taxing. Again, don’t get me wrong; I know I brought it upon myself, unfettered passion can sometimes be contagious and you need to be able to deal with the fire.
cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by Dan LXIX
And a fire is what we may have on our hands at school. It is slow in building, but I can feel the excitement and energy of our teachers. Before I continue, let me say that we have an amazing staff. I have a little over 40 people who have signed on for no credit, in their own time, to push their thinking and themselves beyond their comfort zones. It is a beautiful thing. Because of the work we have already done, hopefully a few of them (you) are reading this post from your RSS reader.
We have begun to discuss and share some of the apprehension people are having about a public online life.
The three main things that seem to come up over and over are: time, the feeling of having nothing to say, and fear of the unforgiving permanence of the Internet. I do not have the energy now to write to each point. I hope that we can touch on all of these issues in the next few weeks, and that the participants will come to their own conclusions. I just wanted to share some misconceptions about blogging that I have overcome, in hopes that my sharing will help others.
You are publishing so everything has to be perfect. Teachers are used to being experts in their respective fields, and so they feel that if they are not “publishing” a PHD thesis style post then they will judged and evaluated. Perhaps an administer or parent will question their ability, if their blog posts express doubt or confusion, or worse TYPOS! Be a risk taker. Write from your heart. Do what we ask kids to do. Reflect honestly, authentically. Be vulnerable and your admin and parent community will respect and appreciate your openness to show your learning. Life-long learning is more than a piece of jargon to put on a resume. Jump in and write.
Nobody cares what I have to say. If this is true for you, then it is true for your students. And if this is the case then lets all go home. We tell students that they matter. That they have a voice and that they should learn to share and express this voice. We tell them that when they talk to others, they will learn and grow from collaboration. We tell them that writing is an art, that you craft and improve over a life time. We tell them not to fear failure. We tell them to dig deep and find their passion. We tell them that they are special and that we want to hear what they think and feel….now just tell yourself those things when you don’t know what to write.
It has to all be about tech or education. I don’t like writing about tech all the time. I like writing about things that excite and frustrate me. Find things in your day that you find meaningful. I like to write about epiphanies I have in class. I like to write about ideas that worked and those that failed. I like to use my writing to connect with others, but really I use my writing to help me make sense of my teaching, my life, myself. There is empowerment in vulnerability. Open up a little and see what happens. Take baby steps.
You have to blog everyday and all the time. Write when you feel you have no choice. I guess I have always felt the need to write. I have been wishing for a blog since I was 12 years old. Maybe not everyone has this obsession with writing, but set a manageable plan. A post a week. Set up an hour on Sunday night and make it happen. Make it fun. Not a chore.
People who blog do nothing but spend time online. I have a full life with two kids, a wife, a voracious appetite for books and TV and many other hobbies. But I make time to write. I have a routine: Music and the couch- Me and the my words. Make one up. Stick to it.
I am officially out of gas. It is 9:22. See that took me twenty minutes. I will now crawl into bed, read a bit, watch some TV and try to rest. Hang in there guys. You are doing an amazing job. This, whatever it is we are doing, takes time. The fact that you are excited and here is a great first step. You see the value of connected learning. You see the value in sharing ideas with an audience. You see the value of creation. In short, you are starting to see that technology is not about computers. It is about people, ideas, creativity, passion. It is about “real” life.
Thank you for this, Jabiz. I’m not anywhere near trying to convince my colleagues to blog (yet!), but I really needed this reminder as my own butt-kicking to get back to blogging. Between you and Clint, I’m really feeling like I should make a more dedicated effort to carve out time to write. (And it really is about carving out times for me — it doesn’t just “happen” no matter how I will it to!)
Also, I’m looking forward to the post in which you write about the recent challenge for you to deal with the blog security scare you just went through… is that in the pipes? 🙂
I really feel that if we want student to authentically blog, we must have a culture of openness, sharing and blogging throughout the school. To do this, we have to get staff on board first. I have a lot to write on how this is going, so stay tuned.
We are only two weeks into it, but there is a lot being learned by our anxiety. Good starting point. If teachers really want to understand the hype about networks, connectedness etc… they have to get their hands dirty.
Exhausting yes, but good, important crucial work.
And yes, you should be blogging more. Maybe about food! Your pics re amazing. Would love to get unto your head while you cook.
Hey, I blogged today! 😉
Hi Jabiz,
Thanks for being the impetus. I am part of that slow burning fire – I have intended to become more present in the virtual world but I just needed a kick to get going. Thanks for the gentle kick. I understand what you are going through. I have a real passion for math education, and I know what it is like to be so excited about something and beckoning others to come and play. I was wondering if you read the book, The Last Book in the Universe. It has a complicated beginning, but once my students started reading it and learned the language of the book, they were hooked. I don’t know why I thought of that just now, but I think you would enjoy it.
The last math book I read was called Flatlands…long story. But I am glad you are on board and I think you might have the bug. I am loving your short quips and your unique voice. This is what it is all about.
Jabiz –
You nailed it buddy. Right post at the right time. I have teachers considering blogging themselves and getting their students to start and I hear these same things again and again.
I think we forget just how grassroots and raw the internet is sometimes. We don’t all have to be perfect to contribute. It’s not like we’re killing a tree to make a book.
The thing I love most about the interaction online via blogs and Twitter is that we can use them to shape our thinking, not just spout off with our fully formed, tested and true theories.
Blogs and Tweets for me are idea factories – the places where I put something forward that others shape and bend as they add their comments. They’re also places where “twig” ideas are gathered by my and made into my own “nest.”
So true, always the same concerns. Adding your post to our readings for COETAIL. Thanks!
Jabiz,
This post makes me feel connected to you because I feel I am in the same situation right now. There is one other misconception that goes along with vulnerabilities and that is; thinking all the people whose blogs I read and all the people that I follow (on Twitter) have these tech savvy schools where all the faculty and staff are light years ahead of mine. It will take forever for my school to get on board with blogging. I now see that we are all trying to reach that day. The truth is like your post suggests, all it takes is a spark and the fire will come. Thank you for spreading the word!
Thanks Kim and Cathy. Funny this was just a post to help me sort through some frustration and confusion and it appears to be helping other. Which is what I was saying to start with: Blogging is a bridge to other people’s ideas.
I am tempted to write: this is a post that applies to students as much as to teachers, only more so. That’s the sort of sentence that flows naturally off the fingers, but I feel like it doesn’t quite capture the glint, the angle, of reality.
What I fear, above all, is permanence. Maybe it is just me, but I feel that, as someone still in development, keeping a blog would quickly become painful. What student hasn’t read a piece of writing from a year ago – or a month! – and thought, did I really write this?
I think the human instinct tends either towards rejecting technology, because it is new and unfamiliar and, like all change, dangerous, or – as if, paradoxically, by re-applying, not getting over, this same emotion – to embrace it uncritically, dive into it headfirst. I’m trying to find the moderate middle ground.
And what I really mean to say, I guess, is that there are really good reasons for teachers to blog (revitalizing the classroom, Dead Poet’s Society, etc), and really good reasons for students to blog too. It’s a way of interfacing with the world at large that people still in their chrysalides (is that an awkward usage?) need to learn, in this day and age. But what about the rest of the world? What about people who are not in education? How does blogging intersect with social networking; how is it different than other means of internet communication, how is more important or valuable? I would love it if you posted about these someday.
Thanks for your thoughts. While I agree that past writing can be embarrassing for students and teachers alike, there are times that I read something I wrote years ago and I am floored by how still relevant it is to me. “I wrote that?” those sort of wow moments can be inspirational.
But really, we should all see writing as a process and not as a product. We hope that kids and teachers, look at their writing and see it as a place to explore and trace their thoughts and ideas. We are so trained to see writing as evaluative, and get caught up labeling it good or bad, that we are afraid to do it.
As for the intersection of blogging and other Social Networks, I will try to get to it soon. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.
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“technology is not about computers. It is about people, ideas, creativity, passion. It is about “real” life.”
this little phrase just brought me giant clarity.
thank you
Awesome. Clarity is good. And gigantic clarity is even better. I think once people get over the fear that technology is a machine that they cannot control, and begin to understand that it is a tool that will connect them to others and their ideas, than that is when it becomes valuable and we will build critical mass.
Hey Jabiz. I’m a born skeptic, including about blogging. But … I participated in a discussion that arose from your blog about being “disconnected” when you were on the field trip to Sumatra. That was my first experience of engaging in that kind of online discussion and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found through the process that it did sharpen my thinking about a number of issues. I have been encouraging kids to write journals for years because I know that it does exactly that, it focuses and clarifies thinking, it provokes questions, it solidifies those “light bulb” moments. How much better is blogging than the private journal? A lot better I think. The clarification and amplification that can be gained through interaction is priceless. I’m going to embrace it.
You don’t know how happy this makes me. We are in the process of a cultural change at our school, and as we move forward hopefully others will begin to move from skepticism to understanding.
However, it is always crucial that we remain critical and question the status quo. I am sure you will keep us all in check and asking questions. Looking forward to see your thoughts on your blog.
I think the is a place for quiet solitary journal writing, but there is also a time to open up and share and connect with audience.
What if everyone doesn’t like to write? What are you doing for them?
We are doing a digital storytelling unit next week, Focusing on film, images, podcasts etc…Hoping that teachers can see it is about sharing ideas in whatever way feels the most natural.
“You are publishing so everything has to be perfect.”
Writing is therapeutic but also so personal in many ways. So I embrace blogging for students in that sense. However, for myself, I’d disagree with you on a point. The idea of just blogging, just typing. That stream of consciousness is great when you’re free writing; but when it’s a “professional” blog, I’m going to be very careful what I post. I will read it and re-read it for typos. I’d like to set a good example for my students. At the same time, what I post and how I word things has to be really considered. As teachers we’re judged and admired, loved and not so well liked, but we have a captive audience. Whether they want to or not, they will have to listen to us in the classroom. In English classes especially we touch on birth and death and everything in between, including politics and relationships. What we share and how we share with students in the classroom has to be well thought out. I would then say, we are bound by that same concept online.
I think that we can agree that there are many reasons for writing as there are many ways of writing. We have different styles, different needs, and different voices. I am not sure I ever advocated solely stream of consciousness writing or just professional writing.
People need to find what works for them and fits their needs. Some people may just want a place to dump ideas and get feedback from immediate peers, while other may want a professional presence on the web and actively promote their work. Thanks for the reminder though, I guess before we start perhaps it is a good idea to really think about why we write, as individuals. What does it do for us? What is our intent? That might be a great first post for DC101 cohort too. Maybe you can write it up as an example. 🙂
Final note:
“What we share and how we share with students in the classroom has to be well thought out. I would then say, we are bound by that same concept online.”
Absolutely. Discussing “deep” issues in class is on thing, but to give those ideas permanence. can be difficult
Hi Jabiz. I’m Kelly, a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I just started blogging in this class. I think it’s great to have a “fire” on your hands in your school, and great that it is because of DC101. I have experienced the benefits of blogging already. Teachers and students around the world are able to learn from each other and help each other by blogging their ideas and suggestions. I have heard many reasons why people do not like to blog, most often because of time. One thing I do think is important for bloggers, especially new bloggers like myself, is to keep in mind that you are publishing and it is permanent. So I have to agree with Shruti, who said he checks and rechecks for typos and wants to set a good example for his students. Best of luck to you as you deal with that fire, Jabiz.
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Who cares what ever I have to say! This is so true as this was my feeling about blogging and twitter. However as my husband is kind of a techie he always takes the virtual stuff out of my hands and therefore leaves me with little opportunity to find things out for my self. This sounds weird but why bother doing it if someone else does it for you? The first thing that hooked me on to blogging was your sentence ” you don’t blog for anyone else just for your self”. I couldn’t get this out of my head as it is so true. Since that time I see blogging as a diary for my self, reflection, sharing and as a somewhat “frustation” device 🙂