Hello Classmates,
I do not believe that blogging is worth the risk for educators. My main reasoning behind this conclusion is the student and parent reactions to a public journal about their classroom experience. I do not think that it is appropriate that a teacher publicly discuss subjects like classroom management, teaching strategies, or personal and professional philosophies online. I was surprised that the counter argument did not bring up this point because I think it is something important that bloggers need to consider. Bloggers cannot assume that their audience consists of only a certain group of people; when you post something on the Internet you must assume that anyone can read it, even if you have privacy settings.
James Maxlow brings up a good point, that blogging will teach students to be mindful of what they post and communicate online. However, we should also be teaching students when we shouldn’t post anything at all online. I believe that blogging can be beneficial to working professionals because it is an easy way to share ideas and offer advice, but there are too many risks attached. When blogging, educators should take every precaution to ensure some sense of privacy and even then they need to censor what they write and be mindful of all potential audiences.
Hi Marissa,
ReplyDeleteLove the look of your blog. Very creative. I need to work on mine so more. I understand where you are coming from regarding as educators we need to be cautious of what and how we say things, but I do not think we need to live in fear of the unknown. It is OK to put something out there as food for thought per se but as long as we are aware that what we say could be used against us somehwere down the line I still think it is OK for us to use the technology available to us to enhance the learning of our students.
Happy blogging or not. :)
Sheila Lowe
Hi Marissa,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment about who can and can not see what your writing. I believe that when posting on a blog page , it does make you more susceptible to other public "audiences". James Maxlow obviously agrees with us too! :) I definitely agree that blogging can be a very beneficial tool as technology is only moving forward!
See U on Mon!
Jessica Hanan
Hi Marisa!
ReplyDeleteThe safety of the students is definitely a factor to take into consideration. Even with the warning and lessons involved in being responsible with what you post for people to see, some students could get into trouble. However, if students are already going to post information online, I would think it would be beneficial for them to learn how to post responsibly on a monitored blog first so they can see the consequences (both positive and negative).
Your post did make me reconsider my initial reaction to the article though. Thanks for explaining your concerns!
Marissa Carney