Bud the Teacher

The upshot of my correspondence with a very pleasant Ms. Radcliffe today (We’ve exchanged six messages so far, three each way.  She asked me not to share hers, so I won’t share the messages, but I will share the outcome) is that no correction will be issued as no error has occurred.   
    I disagree with that assessment.  I have inquired of her as to what my next step should be.
UPDATE:  As I was writing this post, this update appeared on their blog.  I suppose that’s a step.
    I’m about ready to move on, though.  I don’t really think this is a battle worth fighting.  The larger issue of anonymity is one worth revisiting from time to time.
    I understand teachers work in places where their "free speech" will get them fired.  I also understand that, sometimes, "free speech" isn’t all that free.  Yes, teachers should stand up to unsafe or illegal working conditions or student situations, and there is a time and a place for doing so anonymously.  But those times and places should be few and far between.
    Plenty of anonymous teacher blogging that I’ve seen is responsible, but I fear that being anonymous allows for the times when the anonymous teacher wants to call someone an idiot, or a headcase, or other another defamatory, inflammatory term.   There’s no responsibility to be fair or accurate in those instances.
    That’s not okay.  Not in public, at least, and not in a professional capacity.  We’ve got enough problems to work through in our schools without a lack of civility among the supposed "grown-ups."

    This is the letter that I sent to Jennifer Radcliffe, who wrote this interesting story.  You can find her (group) blog here, and this is a piece that she wrote in response to her story on blogging teachers.  She’s seeking comments — and I applaud her for using her blog to support her reporting.   Perhaps you would have a comment or two to share with her?
    Begin letter:

Ms. Radcliffe:

      I read your article on anonymously blogging
teachers in yesterday’s online version of your paper.  I was quite
surprised to find the name of my blog mentioned in the article,
especially since you labeled me as a "chatty, often frustrated,
teacher."  The implication, too, of my inclusion is that "Bud the
Teacher" is a screen name and that I blog anonymously.

      My hunch is that you were in a hurry and simple Googled
"teacher blog" to see what you could come up with.  If you had done a
little more reading, you would have discovered my full name, as well as
information on where I work.  Had you continued to read, you would have
found writing I’ve done on how problematic I find anonymous blogging,
particularly from teachers.

      Alas, you were probably under a tight deadline and didn’t have
time to do so.  An otherwise useful article became tainted by that
oversight. 

    I do not and have never blogged anonymously, and I do not appreciate
the implication that I have.  Teachers should be openly writing about
their practice in order to learn and to educate the public on their
work.  To hide behind a pseudonym is usually license for taking
liberties with the truth, and I will never do so.  I don’t care for the
suggestion.  I do not know if it warrants a correction, but if it does,
would you please forward the necessary information to your editor?
Thank you.

      I look forward to your response.   Please note that I have also
posted this open letter to you as a blog entry.  If you would prefer,
please share your response in the comments section there. 

Sincerely,

  Bud Hunt
http://www.budtheteacher.com

    I’m pleased to tell you that Louann Reid, the editor of English Journal, my teacher and my friend is now blogging.  Here’s her first post, on the class that’s brought her into the blogosphere.  I think you’ll be interested to learn with and from her class:

As a new semester and a new class begin, I’m ready to try yet another
new thing–blogging with a class. This move seems particulary
appropriate for the graduate class I’m teaching this semester: Visual
Texts and Textuality. Within the larger topic of New Literacies or
multi-modal literacy, we will explore graphic novels, videogames,
films, and other visual texts to understand how theories of "reading"
and "writing" texts may or may not apply to visual texts. All of this
exploration, of course, will occur in the context of teaching and
learning in secondary school English.

I would like to use this
blog as a place for us to raise questions, reflect on emerging ideas,
and elicit feedback from teachers and others who can help shape our
knowledge. Some of the content will be class-specific, but there should
be much that will be general enough–I hope–to engender lively
discussion.

Please join us.

I sure will.

    DOPA’s back.  Sort of.  Only worse.
    Andy Carvin’s got a round up on the new version of the legislation that would put an end to much of the work that I’m doing online with students while doing nothing to improve the online landscape.
    This is ignorant legislation that solves zero real problems.  I urge the  Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to ignore this legislation and to focus on other stuff.
    I don’t actually see this passing the Senate — but I do think Brian’s right that we should be paying attention and sharing our feelings.  Here’s a link to his handy "talk to the committee" applet.
    I sent multiple e-mails to representatives and senators when DOPA was first making the rounds, and didn’t get one single response.  Not one.
    When/if I get a minute, I’ll pull up those e-mails and name some names.

Barbara, can you tell us anything more about the Middlebury College’s history department faculty barring the use of Wikipedia as a source in academic work?  (I’m sure you’re busy — but any insights or pointers would be much appreciated.)  (Thanks to Dave Winer for the pointer.)

    A few months back, I switched from Furl to Del.icio.us (username: budtheteacher).  I wasn’t eager to make the move, as I’ve always liked Furl, but newer versions of Firefox didn’t handle the Furl toolbar as well as I liked.  Also, working from multiple computers with different levels of user access required that I find a few different ways to access my bookmarks.  The multiple Del.icio.us Firefox extensions helped.  (I also really like the feature in Del.icio.us that allows me to send a link to someone else.  That’s just neat.)
     Does anyone know of a good way to move all of my Furl bookmarks into my Del.icio.us account? 
    Thanks in advance. 

    A click through Wes’s post on his son’s improvement in and excitement for reading (congratulations, Alexander!) took me back to Stephen Krashen’s website, where I rediscovered his "88 Generalizations about Free Voluntary Reading", a handy one pager of research findings on how and why we should be using SSR (that’s sustained silent reading) in school. 
    Starting this year, we begin almost every morning with SSR, followed by a building wide writing prompt — and sometimes I need to remind staff why that’s important.  It never ceases to amaze me just how hard teachers have to fight for time to simply read and write, but we do.  This’ll help.   Thanks, Dr. Krashen.
    PS — For those of you who’d like to hear more about SSR and why it’s a good thing, you might want to give a listen to this podcast, recorded by Wes, of Dr. Krashen from a while back.

Teaching, sometimes, is all about fits of frustration and rushes of passion.  But not in that order.  It’s been an interesting January.  I’ve learned lots along the way.  More soon.

    Good stuff at the Pulse lately.  Here’re a couple of recent standouts, both of which hit my aggregator today.  The first, by Ron Canuel, includes a silly list of the cons of using pens and pencils.  Here’s a partial list, and some of his tongue in cheek conclusions:

• Very limited interactive components with peripherals in the classroom or at home or at the office
• Ergonomic design limited to higher end models
• Limited transferability of finalized documents

I
stopped at this point since it became clear that in reviewing the above
listing, there must be immediate, and more in depth research into the
positive and negative effects of pencils and pens.  Just look at the
weapon component and the vandalism that these two tools have brought to
our schools and classrooms.  To add, I also suggest that policy makers,
politicians, educators and media immediately investigate whether
policies and programs should be implemented to ensure the positive
usages of these tools.

The second, and far more serious piece, is by Gary Stager.  I don’t always agree with him, but I certainly do today when he writes:

The rights of speech, assembly, movement and petitioning one’s
government are enshrined in the United States Constitution and are the
bedrock of our democratic system. Increasingly these rights are
exercised online. Blocking such access in schools, whether
accidentally, needlessly or malevolently, endangers us all.

    Overstated?  I don’t believe so.  Make sure to read the complete articles.

Happy blogday to me.
    Happy blogday to me.
    Happy blogday, dear Budtheteacher.typepad.com,
    Happy blogday to me.