Will wrote a post recently that is
helping me to connect with a problem that might be beginning to stir in my
blog, as well as others. He writes/asks:
I read lots of stories about kids who are getting it, even in Doug’s post,
where they are reading and writing and commenting and learning. You read Bud or
Clarence or
Vicki or any
number of others and there are stories that border on transformation. (In fact,
Vicki’s latest post is titled "My students inspire me as they
"get" Web 2.0.") But I don’t read much about the kids that
aren’t engaged. And I’m wondering to what extent that happens as well. And
further, I’m wondering to what extent they compare to the adult educators we’re
trying to teach about these tools who choose not to engage. The simple view is
that this is generational, that kids are more available to the tools because
they live in a connected world or because, well, they’re kids and more open to
new stuff than adults…but is it?
I don’t think that it’s as simple as a generational thing. I don’t
think Will thinks that, either, but I do understand where he’s coming
from. Generation M is plugged in, right? The rest of us are trying
to catch up.
Except that’s not true. Will has something like two
decades of educational experience. David Warlick has as much if not
more. Barbara Ganley didn’t start teaching last week. Other
teachers in the blogosphere are not new to teaching, but might be the early
adopters of new technologies in their schools, districts and/or
communities. I’ve only been teaching for four years, so maybe much of Web
2.0 comes easily to me.
But that’s not why I’m writing tonight, even though the
question of why blogging is or isn’t for everyone is an important one, worthy
of lots of conversation by folks smarter than I.
I’m writing because I see a potential problem developing in
and among the edublogosphere that is becoming more and more my professional
space.
A few months ago, my wife and I published, in English
Journal, a column entitled, "Why I Despise Nancie Atwell" by Sarah
J.H. Brooks. (Note: The link requires a paid subscription to the journal for viewing. Sorry.) The well-written piece is about the author’s frustration
with best practice texts, specifically In the Middle, one of those books that
my generation of reading and writing teachers is and should be devouring in
preservice coursework. She’s frustrated because she only sees the success
stories, and not the stuff that didn’t go so well. Let me be clear: the Brooks’ piece is in no way a condemnation of Atwell’s work. We need best practices texts, and Atwell’s text continues to inform my practice as a language arts teacher.
But best practices don’t work for every teacher, in every classroom, on every day.
Best practice texts are, largely, excellent attempts to
share and promote those lessons, activities, and philosophies that are, at
least in theory, "proven" to be successful in a variety of
educational contexts. Best practice texts, written by exceptional
educators, have informed my practice, and will continue to do so.
Many of the blogs that are in the sidebar to the right of
this post on my site are, in my humble opinion, some of the best practice texts
of using technology in education. I value the good ideas and lessons that
my colleagues in the edublogosphere are sharing on a daily basis.
The only problem with best practice texts, too often at
least, is that they turn classrooms into Mickey Mouse spaces where all goes
well and there’s never any trouble. Every student in these books finds
success in the classroom. At least, that’s how the texts present
classrooms.
Again, this is not universal; many good texts share failures
as well as successes, but not nearly enough.
I do not want this blog to become a text that misinforms as
it informs. Nor do I want to read blogs
that paint stories of success while ignoring the stories of students lost or
unsuccessful along the way.
We aren’t
going to learn anything by merely telling half of the story. And omission, intentional or otherwise, may
blur the narrative.
Now, I’m not saying that this is happening, but, as I
prepare to embark on a larger blogging project than I’ve ever undertaken, I
want to make a public reminder to myself to tell as much of the story as I can,
without shading or blurring information in any way.
And
I think it’s reasonable to ask that those of you who are also blogging to do
the same.
I know many bloggers are doing just that. I encourage them to keep it up. Let’s make sure that Will, and all of the rest of us, aren’t missing the stories of those students not engaged by these technologies.
11 responses so far ↓
Graham Wegner // Mar 27th 2006 at 3:27 am
Bud, I think part of the reason you don’t read as much about the misses in the edublogosphere has a lot to do with the best practices that are chronicled. Someone like myself who has at least as many misses as successes can feel a bit intimidated by all this cutting edge stuff - in fact I’ve blogged about it before. Somehow, we need to let edubloggers know that it’s OK to talk about the flops, the near misses and the cries for help. Maybe Clarence, Anne, Darren and Barbara need to tell us all about a few groaners that have come their way. It does come back to your purpose for blogging - if it is to document your victories, be proactive in your professional thinking, highlight great things you have seen and done, then your blog won’t have your warts out on display. Purpose doesn’t have to be balanced (although it would make a lot of us feel less inferior!)
Vicki Davis // Mar 27th 2006 at 6:23 am
I think that any valid, sincere edublogger will blog on both sides of the issue as I also have tried to.
Another thing to remember is that a good teacher doesn’t teach unless they are well prepared. Before I used Odeo in the classroom I had been using it for a week and had taught my 9 year old and 11 year old to do it.
Perhaps why it seems that there is success is that good teachers prepare and test the services and software before they use them in the classroom. Sure, there are times things don’t work perfectly and I must include those things in my posts.
However, inherent in a teacher “doing his or her homework” as part of their lesson plan is a weeding out process that occurs for technologies that aren’t working well.
Is there a disproportianate amount of “success” portrayed in the blogosphere. Probably. But I think you’ll find the pioneers in anything have been and always will be optimists by nature. That is portrayed in the posts they make.
Clarence Fisher // Mar 27th 2006 at 6:34 am
I’ve been thinking about this myself lately as well. I’ve tried to be open and honest about the practices in my classroom. Blogging is great, but some kids only write because they have to. Podcasting is exciting, but some kids drag the assignments out and just get them finished under the wire of a deadline. And getting kids to write on our wiki can always be trouble for some of them. As we get used to have having “classrooms of glass,” we need to go the extra step and be brave enough to discuss our difficulties and our failures as well.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom // Mar 27th 2006 at 9:05 am
It’s All About Engagement
It’s been interesting reading the threads that have developed around my ” To Blog or Not to Blog…
Barbara Ganley // Mar 27th 2006 at 5:56 pm
Bud,
You make a good point about “best practices” can seem like “impossible practice,” but I do think that we have to keep in mind what Graham says about how edubloggers are often trying to push our thinking as well as to chronicle the classroom experience.
I dove back into my own blog archives to see how many posts include references to failed classroom blogging or to those students who haven’t taken to it. I found quite a few including one, Trouble in Blog Paradise, from almost exactly a year ago. I think we do talk about the failures in our own classrooms and why people around us abandon blogging, and how even with the most careful preparation, sometimes things don’t work. So while I agree with Vicki about preparation and its relation to success in the classroom, I also know that some students really won’t and don’t take to it. But I don’t see that as being left out or behind necessarily–that can have as much to do with learning style or personal interest or with much much more challenging flaws in our entire approach to education.
Doug // Mar 27th 2006 at 6:09 pm
“Why I Despise Nancy Atwell.” is a great title for a critical article about Best Practices. Whenever I *try* that stuff-things that are published in professional books and journals-I end up thinking that I must have a different kind of kids to work with than the published people did, or that maybe I’m doing it wrong, a possibility that we can thank Randy Newman for offering. One of the reasons that I want to have my students publish material online is to sidestep the editing that obviously goes into those articles and let the kids speak directly to readers. There is, of course, still some editing. But putting the kids’ voices in the center of the project allows anyone who comes to it a chance to form their own conclusions.
In more than one workshop where a miracle worker flew in to show us how it’s done (chose any subject area), someone has asked, “And this works for everyone?” Invariably the response is, “Well…”
Building new practices means heading into difficult and uncertain places. The misses can be far more instructive than the efforts that land on-target. Our work to understand and solve the very local problems that we confront in our classrooms each day defies canned approaches to teaching. There is no better recipe for success than sincerity, empathy, humility, inquisitiveness, and other very human qualities that seek expression in the growth of others. If anything worked all the time, we’d all be doing it. Right?
Ben // Mar 29th 2006 at 11:20 am
Wow, you’ve hit the nail on the head, Bud! However, I don’t just want to be another “yes-man” about edublogging as I see a not so clear dichotmy in edublogging. There exists a large number of teachers that use the edublogosphere to write about life in the classroom and their experiences. The other half of the edublogosphere is made of teachers, academics, and others that just want to disseminate ideas, theories, and the best practices to the rest of the educational world.
Both sides of the edublogosphere are further broken up into sub-cultures, as any community is. However, you’re right when mentioning that teachers who blog to reflect need, and have a responsibility, to talk about their successes, failures, and give everyone an honest picture of what happens in their classroom. However, those educators that write about particular subjects, best practices, and ideas are focused on just their “side of the story.” Does this make them beholden to providing both sides of the story, for better or worse? No, BUT if they don’t take the time now and then to present both sides of the story they will come off as sounding less legitimate and unathentic.
So both sides of the edublogosphere benefit from providing the whole story. However, I feel that those “covering a particular beat” like videoconferencing, differentiation, best practices, etc. don’t necessarily have to provide both sides of their theories or examples, but should if they desire to keep a decent readership. Of course, the desire to write for an audience versus just writing for your own reflection brings up an entirely different conversation.
Vicki Davis // Mar 29th 2006 at 12:58 pm
OK, Bud, I’ve pondered and I’m back again. I have chewed on this blog for a day and posted a blog entry on When best practices become the worst.
You’ve made the think and I thank you. I hope I never become a one sided Mickey Mouse blog as you’ve discussed in this post.
This is thought provoking post. Thank you for posting it! I hope you’ll tell me your thoughts!
Marco Polo // Mar 31st 2006 at 1:23 am
Good point, but I don’t think you need worry. You wrote, “We aren’t going to learn anything by merely telling half of the story. And omission, intentional or otherwise, may blur the narrative.” True, but the range and numbers of ed/tech people surfing blogtopia will make sure things balance out. There’s always a few people who will write about failures just because no-one else seems to be. “We” are plural! In more senses than one, and “we” need all that plurality. Now, a problem might be that one is only READING the Pollyanna stories, because the other ones are certainly out there. I just blogged about one such myself yesterday.
Mark Ahlness // Jun 4th 2006 at 11:12 am
Bud, I have come late to the dance, but it is a busy time in the classroom. I have to say I find a lot of this discussion distressing to me because I do not believe the good news, the success stories are out there yet. Not even close. To be sure we include information about each and every Johnny or Linda who doesn’t get hooked on blogging is just bending over backward way too far in an effort to be PC. I’ll be quiet now and refer you to the writing of my third graders. This, I believe, is where we still need to put our efforts now - the good news, the exciting news. It may seem old hat within our small circles, but the general public does not have a clue of the transformation happening in some classrooms.
My classroom blog - see their entries on 6/2, and remember these are 8 and 9 year olds.
I wrote abut their writing, with excerpts, on my blog
Clay Burell // Dec 7th 2007 at 6:35 pm
I’ve been chronicling my failures with classroom blogging since I started a year ago. The latest is here.
That’s why I think the Students 2oh edublog is a fertile direction to take student blogging. A coalition of the willing, beyond school, so to speak, of students blogging as writers, not as students, on a platform removed from the schoolhouse altogether.
We have to admit that as long as it’s homework, in their minds, it’s going to have a taint of inauthenticity to it - don’t we?
Enjoyed your post, Bud.
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