Monday, October 13, 2003
Teachers and Blogging
An article in Education Week discusses the pitfalls of being a teacher who blogs.
When another teacher walked into the classroom and abruptly told Jeanne Edna Thelwell that she needed to see the principal, Thelwell knew something was wrong....
"Is this a disciplinary hearing?" she asked.
"It's come to my attention that you have a Web site," the principal told her. Before Thelwell could reply, she continued: "Which is your right." After some dancing around the issue, the administrator came right out and asked, was Thelwell feeling suicidal? Then Thelwell noticed paperwork on the table stating the purpose of the meeting: Assessing the teacher's emotional state.
"I wanted to laugh," Thelwell recalls. But really, she says, after a bruising first few months at Brooklyn's PS 81, she was on the verge of tears, wondering if she could do anything to stay out of trouble. More to the point, she was wondering what she could have posted online to make the principal think she was on the verge of a breakdown. Then she remembered her entry for October 6, her 52nd birthday:
read the whole thing.
It also has useful links to education related bloggers, including Joanne Jacobs.
An article in Education Week discusses the pitfalls of being a teacher who blogs.
When another teacher walked into the classroom and abruptly told Jeanne Edna Thelwell that she needed to see the principal, Thelwell knew something was wrong....
"Is this a disciplinary hearing?" she asked.
"It's come to my attention that you have a Web site," the principal told her. Before Thelwell could reply, she continued: "Which is your right." After some dancing around the issue, the administrator came right out and asked, was Thelwell feeling suicidal? Then Thelwell noticed paperwork on the table stating the purpose of the meeting: Assessing the teacher's emotional state.
"I wanted to laugh," Thelwell recalls. But really, she says, after a bruising first few months at Brooklyn's PS 81, she was on the verge of tears, wondering if she could do anything to stay out of trouble. More to the point, she was wondering what she could have posted online to make the principal think she was on the verge of a breakdown. Then she remembered her entry for October 6, her 52nd birthday:
read the whole thing.
It also has useful links to education related bloggers, including Joanne Jacobs.
