If you want to know what’s really going on in the nation’s schools, hit the blogs. U.S. News’ Eddy Ramirez posts this piece looking at blogs written by, for and about teachers.
Although generally dismissed by school administrators as ‘faculty bathroom graffiti,’ teacher blogs, including those that are written anonymously, are becoming essential reading for anyone who wants to look beyond standardized test score reports to see what’s really going on in schools.
Well said. Ramirez cites Teaching in the 408 (although author Kilian Betlach is no longer teaching) and Bill Ferriter’s earnest and excellent The Tempered Radical as prime examples of the form. I’d have added Catching Sparrows, NYC Educator, Learn Me Good and dy/dan as well.
Having tried to organize a few colleagues to blog when I was teaching, I can state with confidence that the conventional wisdom among most is that blogging is a great way to scuttle your career. “Free speech protects teachers who want to blog about matters of public concern,” David Hudson, a First Amendment scholar, tells U.S. News. “But courts have ruled that schools can discipline teachers if their speech, including online postings, disrupts school operations. School officials in Florida, Ohio, and Tennessee have removed or suspended teachers for online postings on social networking sites like MySpace. Teacher unions have also warned members to use caution if they blog.”
(HT: Alexander Russo, who is also quoted in the piece.)
Where are the unions in these cases? This seems like *exactly* the sort of issue for which unions exist.
Two thoughts come to mind. First, our culture is pretty good at voicing the rhetoric of free speech, and indeed, that rhetoric is important. Free speech is important. But it is not unlimited. Our culture seems less aware of that. We do say, “You can’t yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater”, but usually we think that about covers it. But there’s more to it than that, a lot more. The idea of free speech says you can say what you want, but it does not give you immunity from the consequences. It doesn’t take too much thought to realize that of course that’s the way it has to be.
More specifically, everyone should realize that in our culture we do accept the idea that most any person owes some loyalty to his or her employer. The details can get very complicated, of course, but the principle is generally accepted. Teacher’s should consider themselves as employed by the community in which they teach. They owe some loyalty to that community. If you don’t like that, go work in a factory.
Remember what they told you in ed school about these things . . . . . . . . Oh, never mind. (Obviously I could never work for an ed school.)
Second, and I think even more importantly, teacher blogging may contribute greatly to something that I have been saying for years is woefully neglected in the study of education, a base of simple, but accurate, intensive, and extensive base of description of what actually goes on in actual classrooms. I have expanded my thoughts on this matter considerably at <a href=”http://www.brianrude.com/lackdes.htmhttp://www.brianrude.com/lackdes.htm .
Funny–I wrote an article for the UFT blog on this subject almost a year ago.
I was going to use my real name, but the web editor at the time cautioned me against it. I regret not using my name, and I regret the title of the article. Other than that, I have no regrets, and I am glad that Edwize welcomed my piece.
Two points come to mind here. First of all: yes, there are risks of repercussions for those who write about their schools and classrooms. Yet it is not in the interest of the DoE to draw attention to such writing.
Second: yes, one must respect the workplace–yet for the teacher the workplace never ends. We take work home with us; we catch colds from the kids; we toss and turn over imperfect lessons and days. If freedom of speech is limited in the workplace, then for us it is limited in our lives. This is unconscionable. If we want to persevere in our professions, we must speak our minds publicly and privately.
That said, we should protect the privacy of our colleagues and students, and respect confidentiality. If we exercise our freedom of speech responsibly and honorably, then no one should fault us for it.
And if they do, we should fight!
“If you want to know what is really going on in the nation’s schools, hit the blogs”? Blogs are one element of the picture, certainly. But if you really want to know what is going on in the nation’s schools, roll up your sleeves, shoulder the load and actually get out there and teach! Our profession is plagued with researchers, commentators, and policy makers ad nauseam who have little or no actual teaching experience.