Bud the Teacher

    John has a  suggestion for those of us frustrated by our districts blocking blogs:

Looks like there are some filters that are putting the blanket over all
things in the edublogs realm. Check for yourself. Does http://www.edublogs.org
work at your place of work? If not, drop a line to your friendly
technology director or school administrator as ask “What’s up?” As a
guy with a bit of experience with these things, a) it usually starts
with the filter vendor pushing an update, not a direct decision by your
local IT gurus, and b) technically, it can easily be resolved. Your
policies and procedures may vary.

Speaking of John, he’s had lots of good suggestions lately since I’ve been reading him.  One from last weekend was:

Here’s a weekend activity. Suggest somebody different. Pull a link from
your aggregator that you think is worthy of a little more attention
from the rest of the edublogosphere. I’m looking for some new faces!

Here’s a recommendation:  Ben is about to be a student teacher here in Colorado.  He’s just begun blogging about his ideas and processes.  While his blog is a new one, he’s had some interesting ideas.  Looking forward to more.

    James Farmer has weighed in on blocking, after his Edublogs service has begun to be blocked from schools.   I echo James’ feelings when he writes:

So howabout it, I want to be part of something that stands against
this ridiculous censorship in schools, that states clearly and
unequivocally that he most important thing is to teach people to swim and that can clearly and unequivocally say to these educational establishments that what they are doing is WRONG and STUPID.

Are you with me?

    Please, stop by his site and let him know what you think.  Will even took a break from his Thanksgiving blog vacation to mention the issue, as well as a couple of important links:

Decisions continue to be taken out of teachers hands. Make sure to read the comments after James’ post. And D’Arcy Norman’s post on the topic. No sense in once again getting into all the reasons why this is just wrongheaded, but it may be time to go on the offensive in more imaginative ways…

Gentlemen, I’m with you.  But I don’t have a clue about how to best proceed.  What might an international effort to stop or change the nature of filtering look like?  How might it be productive and still honor schools’ (perceived or actual) needs to "protect students"?  Is this really censorship, or are we just being persnickety? 
   In one comment to James’ post, Judy Breck shares this gem:

Here in New York City this fall there is a big moot court competition
among 57 public high schools. The student attorneys are arguing about
what schools can/should do about blocking students from the Internet.
The case was created and the competion being judged by Fordham Law
School students. The whole project is of/for/by young people, with many
of the competitors 14-18 years old. You might be interested in looking
at the case materials here:
http://www.jrcnyc.org/mootCourtCase.05/case_documents.html

      Why haven’t I begun my thesis on this issue already?   

    Tonight’s offering is a drive home spent thinking through choices, filters, this week’s trip to the bookstore and some stuff I’ve read lately.  Specifically, one of Miguel’s posts from earlier in the week.   As usual, the podcast is first draft thinking — but it’s been swirling around my brain for several days.
    Your thoughts, as always, are much appreciated.  I might be wrong on this one.

    I missed the post by about two months, but Doug has some really good questions/points about filtering and CIPA.
    Better late than never, right?

    Miguel posted an interesting question/experience on Friday to a listserv and to his blog:

      We are starting to use blogging, podcasting, etc. for instructional uses
      here in our district. These are teacher-guided uses, that add
      instructional value and engage students. We’ve had some issues come up
      with student going to a blogging site: www.myspace.com
      during their off time (library, etc).
   

      I’ve had two calls in the last few weeks from a principal and a
      librarian at high schools. They are having problems with this site. It
      seems that students are posting inappropriate content (photos, etc.).
      They’ve requested blocking this site. During the first phone call, I
      advocated for leaving these sites open but monitoring use (walk around,
      see what’s happening) and taking disciplinary action, if necessary. I
      don’t want to have to block every site that pops up—if we block this
      one, they’ll simply find another. Further, word travels fast–if we take
      disciplinary action, they’ll take more care in following our district
      AUP. Are any of you having similar situations? If so, what are you
      choosing to do?
   

I posted a comment on his blog, and I hope you’ll do the same, but I wanted to elaborate. 
    My school district blocked Myspace (or is it My Space) last week.  They did so in response to administrative and teacher complaints.  I’m not sure of the details, and I’m not sure if I’m pleased or uncomfortable with the blocking itself. 
    Intellectually, I abhor the idea of blocking access to a website.  Some of my students have used the site, and they don’t use it for some of the troubling things that I’ve seen others talk about when discussing the evil that is Myspace.  Others, I know, use the site for personal stuff that shouldn’t be on the Internet at all,  much less in our school.
    Practically, I don’t know that I can go to bat for a site like Myspace.  I’ve got a bigger hurdle in front of me in regards to blogging and filters, and I’m not sure that I want to take a stand on the side of Myspace.  I’d rather save my fight for the right battle.  (But what happens if I wait until it’s too late?)  One of my biggest frustrations with being anti-filter is that it seems like one way to view my position is that I’m the guy that wants to remove a layer of protection from our students and the world.  That’s not necessarily a useful label.
    But  blocking is still wrong.  Where are the monitors that are supposed to be working with students on the Internet.  In Miguel’s example above, as well as in my district, someone is paying close enough attention to know that students are up to no good.   
    Why couldn’t they have used the few minutes that they spent calling/e-mailing Miguel to teach the students about appropriate use instead? 
    Doug’s post on banning pencils because they have the potential to be misused seems appropriate to mention here:

I gotta say that this “potential misuse” as a reason for banning
technologies drives me nuts. If we applied this rationale for not
allowing a technology to an old, familiar technology, we’d certainly
have to ban pencils from school because:

1. A student might poke out the eye of another student.
2. A student might write a dirty word with one. Or even write a whole harassing note and pass it to another student.
3. One student might have a mechanical pencil making those with wooden ones feel bad.
4. The pencil might get stolen or lost.
5. Kids might be doodling instead of working on their assignments.

Oh, sure, kids might actually use them to take notes or compose a paper - but really, what’s the chance of that?

I cringe whenever I hear a district or school “banning” cell phones,
blogging software, e-mail, flash drives, chat, game sites, etc. Each of
these technologies has positive educational uses. Each of these
technologies is a big part of many kids’ lives outside of school. And
yes, each of these technologies has the “potential” for misuse.

One of my biggest worries has always been that by denying access to
technologies that students find useful and meaningful within school, we
make school less and less relevant to our Net Genners. When are we
going to learn to use the kids devices for their benefit rather than
invent excuses to outlaw them?

I’m with Doug.  Why are we blocking the Internet instead of teaching students how to use it?  I know I’ve asked the question before, and I know I’m preaching to the choir, mostly. 
    But, doggonit, I get really frustrated feeling like the outsider here when I know that it isn’t my paradigm or institutional inertia that is the problem. 
    Will spoke to a group of English teachers tonight about the power of new forms of writing.  They seemed tired to him:

In general, I could see the fatigue on their faces, the "I’ve got too
much on my plate to think about this" looks. And I totally, totally
understand it. And, by and large, this is a very smart, very dedicated
group that I really believe wants to do the best for their students.
But they’re pretty overwhelmed as it is.

But I also wanted to push back and say we need to be more imaginative
in our approach to these ideas. That we need to be willing to accept
some of these changes and find the opportunities instead of clinging to
our old paradigms. That we need to embrace these changes instead of
resist them, because this is our students’ future, without question.
None of it easy, I know.

I don’t know that most of the quote is applicable, but I do feel the desire to "push back" against those in my district who are blocking sites.  I just don’t know how. 

Looks like the librarians are with me. 

    The professional organization that I asked about filters and censorship respectfully responded that the issues raised by Internet filters are not yet covered by the organization.  The technologies are too new.   Which is a fair position.  This is new stuff.
    But if we wait until someone else sets the norms and the status quo, won’t it then be too late to change it?
    The Electronic Frontier Foundation looked at Internet filters in schools two years ago — I just got my hands on the report.  I’ll be leafing through it tonight.  Full report on whatever I find interesting.  Or useful.  Or both.
    I’ll ask again — anyone got a policy on filters that covers exactly what will or won’t be covered?  I’ll settle for names and e-mail addresses of the people in your area who are responsible for maintaining the filters.
    Thanks.