Yes, I am still here!

I apologize for not writing more. I have been beyond busy during the past 15 weeks writing up research findings for my study. My goal is to hand in the first draft of my dissertation to my advisor next week. The study identifies specific advantages and limitations within which teachers' learning might be supported online, so needless to say, I am anxious to share the results with an edublogging audience.

Once I've received the green light from my advising team, I will begin to post chapters in pdf form here in Eduspaces. I am also considering creating a wiki to house the final product to make the content more accessible to the public and open to social judgment and adjudication. There are scholars all over working on projects that could benefit more than their peers if they opened up their work to a larger audience using the freely available social media tools. I understand how funding for research and scholarship works and that you cannot always have your cake and eat it too. So in the spirit of seeking balance, I will do what I can to always make my scholarly efforts public.

 I have also been quite busy developing content for a course I am teaching this fall titled Integrating Technology into the Secondary Curriculum. I have two sections of 16 and 22 undergraduate education minors finishing up their careers in college. Some are truly gung-ho and interested in teaching and learning. Others less so, but are willing to play along in the name of learning something new about themselves. I was hoping to share more of what is going on in these classes in this space, but with course preparation and the dissertation, my attention is needed in the latter.

In the meantime, I have not completely fallen off the map. The wonderful bits of minutiae that I find in my travels I have been posting to my Tumblr blogs.  So in the spirit of Friday, I give you a literal translation of A-ha's famous pop fodder Take On Me. Cheers!

While conversation may indeed be king, meaningful conversation requires that we check to see whether the king is wearing any clothes.

In my research on using social or participatory media applications to support substantive educator knowledge development, it is clear conversation or professional talk is a powerful element or factor that can lead to deeper knowledge and understanding of one's practice (Hargreaves, A., 1994).

In my initial examination of participant posts and comments within an online professional learning community designed to support knowledge building among geographically separated participants, I have noticed that conversations fall into two general categories with some occasional subtle overlappings. In general conversations in the online learning community fall into two types: thin and thick.

Thin conversations are those that provide little in terms of reflection, feedback,  expansion and or examination of the initial ideas presented. Thin conversations suggest the emperor is threadbare and thus offers no redeeming substance or value (i.e., the conversation is powerless).

Thick conversations offer not only the thoughts and ideas of the participant but they build and expand upon thoughts shared from the initial post. Thick conversations also provide a sense of deeper reflection and emotional cues that offer insight into the participant's sense of self. Thick conversations are not necessarily verbose; they can be short, triggering statements that lend themselves to deeper reflection and deeper contemplation. Thick conversations are the robes and raiment that make conversation king.

In my initial analysis, where these two categories overlap is where conversation may be thin, but attached resources and artifacts associated with the thin conversation are thick and rich. There are multiple examples within my study that show participants offering little in terms of content-rich, back-and-forth dialogue and conversation, yet attach multiple rich resources or artifacts to their post that serve all participants in the community exceedingly well. The conversation is thin, but the knowledge and value associated with the post appears to outweigh the apparent veneer.

Perhaps, this requires a clearer definition of what conversation in a social media supported environment affords participants. Clearly, meaningful dialogue and written exchange can be valuable to knowledge development. Yet conversation can also trigger references to artifacts outside the immediate conversation that can also provide additional meaning and value. Given that the platform being used to serve and support conversation in this instance also allows the exchange of physical artifacts, conversations can be thin in initial substance and thick with associated attached resources.

Hmmmm....

Your thoughts and feedback are clearly warranted!

Reference:
Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing teachers, changing times: Teachers' work and culture in the post-modern age. New York: Teachers College Press.

Below are the notes for a 15 minute presentation about my research in social software and teacher professional development. Please let me know if you have any questions or areas you would like clarified. -c-

Student Alliance of Graduates in Education Presentation

06 June 2008

Christopher D. Sessums
Adjunct Faculty/PhD candidate in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in Educational Technology
School of Teaching and Learning/Educational Technology
email: csessums@coe.ufl.edu

Using social software to support teacher professional development

Keywords: social software, school-based professional development, inquiry, action research, professional learning communities, online learning communities, professional networks, teacher professional development, educational technology, weblogs, Read/Write Web, networking

1. The Problem: Given the promise of action research to transform educators’ practices and improve schools, coupled with advances in thinking about professional learning communities, it is reasonable to wonder about the role of a facilitated, computer-mediated learning environment and how participation in such a focused community fosters educators’ critical understandings of their practice.

2. Study Objectives: Design a case study to better understand how an online learning community supports a network of practitioners coaching action research. The three main questions that guide this research examine the ways in which an online learning community, as an organizational structure, facilitates participants ability to (1) deepen their understanding of the action research process; (2) deepen their understanding of coaching action research; and (3) deepen their understanding of their own evolving stance toward their professional practice.

3. Perspectives: A phenomenological approach is used in this study focusing on the meaning participants make of their own experiences as revealed by their speaking, writing, and behaviors.

4. Modes of Inquiry: An exploratory case study approach is used to examine participant activity associated with the online learning community over a nine month period. A modified social network analysis protocol will be used to analyze the relationships between participants, and narrative analysis will be used to examine site postings and participant interviews.

5. Data Sources: (1) Facilitator generated prompts and participant responses, (2) participant initiated discussion, (3) technical data associated with facilitator and participant activity in the online learning community site, (4) participant interviews, and (5) field notes.

6. The Workshop: The CSI PDC workshop consisted of three face-to-face meetings (September, November, January) before the final Showcase in May 2008 with the majority of communication and interaction occuring online through the CSI blog site. Participants were provided a text and instructional protocols for coaching action research. During the face-to-face meetings participants were shown how to employ textual materials and protocols as a means of coaching other teachers through the teacher inquiry/action research process. In the online learning community, the facilitator created an organizational structure to provide spaces for both her and the coaches to share coaching experiences, strategies, critical reflections, and receive updates and announcements associated with organizing the Showcase. The facilitator posted regularly to the site modeling an inquiry stance prompting other participants to reply or post in kind. As such it was our hopes that through such prompting, the coaches would be able to develop a sense of community and share experiences, tools, ideas, lessons, rubrics, protocols, recruiting letters, and other specific documentation in supporting both the coaching of and the teacher inquiry process.

7. Participants: This study focuses on the experiences of 11 educators, one facilitator/workshop coordinator, and one technical support person. Educators' experience ranged from 3 to 19 years in the classroom full-time, 180 days a year. All participants had at least one year's experience conducting formal action research/teacher inquiry projects. Not all participants considered themselves technically savvy, but they all could use email and access World Wide Web pages either at home or at work via an Internet connection.

8. Results/Conclusions: My goal was to examine the ways in which an online learning community, as an organizational structure, facilitates participants ability to (1) deepen their understanding of the action research process; (2) deepen their understanding of coaching action research; and (3) deepen their understanding of their own evolving stance toward their professional practice.

While analysis of the interviews, site postings and interactions, and technical site data is still ongoing, preliminary findings include:

• recognition that time, effort, and attention are clear costs of participation
• the desire for emotional commitment by participants
• evidence of legitimate peripheral participation and a community of practice ontology which aided newcomers in entering and acquiring the sociocultural practices of the community
• the recognition of a participant epistemological stance and its impact on levels of participation
• participants valued the ability to post questions and receive responses from peers and facilitator
• participants spent more time observing each other online than actually interacting online i.e., writing back and forth, posting, commenting.
• all participants report that the site allowed them to deepen heir understanding of the AR process, coaching AR, and their own evolving stance by allowing them to observe their peers and make comparisons of their own responses and activity to that of their peers.

9. Educational import of the study: This study provides an exploration of ways school-based professionals can participate, enhance, and expand their professional learning, work toward school improvement goals, and tap in to extended professional networks afforded by social software adoption and use.

10. Intended audience: Education professionals, educational technologists, teacher educators, professional learning communities, educational leadership and administration.

http://xl-medium.net/WPblog/2008/02/24/online-learning-commu

This essay is a review of the following article written by V. Charalambos, Z. Michalinos, and R. Chamberlain entitled The Design of Online Learning Communities: Critical Issues, published in Educational Media International (2004), v. 41(2), pp. 135-143. Elements of this essay are incorporated in a literature review I am working on associated with peer-reviewed journal articles that focus on online learning communities.

In this study, the authors share lessons learned in the creation of an online learning community sponsored by the United States Distance Learning Consortium called STAR-Online (Supporting Teachers with Anywhere/Anytime Resources), a Web-based educational technology teacher professional development program/model.

According to the authors more than 20,000 teachers have participated since its inception in 2000. Each participant registers online, takes a pre-survey as a means for directing them to suggested learning modules which he or she can complete as directed. All participant data and modules he or she completes is stored in a personal online portfolio. Participants are given access to a number of professional development resources. These include Teacher Resources (lesson plans, digital artifacts, audio and video), communication tools (listserv, chat room, and online bulletin boards.

Professional development modules or lessons are built upon several components. Each contains an overview of the topic(s) to be presented, a set of competencies to be addressed, lessons/activities to engage in, a lesson plan development and integration activity, a sharing out feature which asks the participant to describe how the lesson plan worked, and what impact it had with students, and an evaluation form that is submitted to the module development team for feedback and assessment purposes.

Lessons learned After systematic research and evaluation, the authors suggest that there is no systematic formulae or step-by-step guarantees on how to build and structure successful, highly engaging, online learning communities. However, the authors do suggest that online learning community planners and developers can glean much from reviewing what others have experienced and learned from such endeavors. As such, the authors share what they believe to be successful characteristics of an online teacher professional development learning community.

Successful online communities have several of the following characteristics (pp. 138-139):

• They consist of people who cannot meet face-to-face because of place and time constraints and who meet online to work together on a shared task.
• The tasks and sub-tasks on which members work online are clearly defined and participants have a clear understanding of the expectations.
• A common sense of responsibility exists among participants towards the assigned task and peers.
• Easy access to technology and Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) tools is available to all members.
• The tools for communication are accessible and usable.
• There is good leadership and co-ordination of online activities.
• There are capable moderators that provide facilitation, help, guidance and support as needed to the members of the community.
• Ongoing interaction among members is based on constructive dialogue.
• A joint vision, control and ownership of the community, its goals and artifacts are equally shared among the members of the community.
• There is mutual support among its members and sub-groups.
• The rules that govern participation in the community are clearly defined.
• A system is in place monitoring member participation and behaviour and a system to sanction certain inappropriate behaviours.
• It is a safe environment where participants can freely express their opinion and ask questions without the fear of being 'attacked' by others.
• Activities completed are evaluated regularly and feedback is provided in a timely manner.
• There is a certain degree of structural dependence that establishes the need for members to interact and share resources.
• Smaller groups within the community provide a peer-support group smaller than the larger community (Levin et al., 1990; Palloff and Pratt, 1999; Salmon, 2000; Harasim, 2002) [authors' citations].

As a set of general principles or guidelines, the above list provides a set of ideas for online community designers and developers to consider. Combined, these principles relate to elements of Anklam's (2007) definition of a network. In this sense, networks are built upon "webs of relationships that we tap into in order to accomplish something that we could not do by ourselves" (Anklam, 2007, p. xi). As an organizational form, networks offer us a range of choices for managing and interacting with people, ideas, and work. Every such network has a particular purpose, an implicit or explicit organizational structure, a style or way in which participants engage and interact with resources and others, and such networks provide some form of value or the network itself probably would not need to exist. While networks will never replace hierarchical structures or markets, they can offer participants new ways to think and act.

As such I have difficulty accepting the authors belief that there are no systematic formulae or step-by-step guarantees on how to build and structure successful, highly engaging, online learning communities. Research on professional learning communities (DuFour, 2004), communities of practice (Wenger, 1998), and organizational networks (Anklem, 2007) suggest that there are specific steps that can be taken to create online learning communities that offer considerable value to participants.

The authors then go on to outline and consider questions and issues associated with planning the creation of an online community for professional development as well as offer practical recommendations derived from their work and the works of others.

While the planning and development suggestions are practical and offer meaningful insights, the authors only occasionally offer any real theoretical grounding for their suggestions outside their own experience. Team building, cooperative learning, and other models for organizing people to work and learn together are abundant. I am curious why the authors left these or other structural or organizational models out of their analysis of planning and creating online learning communities?

The authors conclude by acknowledging the complexity associated with learners, learning, and community design. They note that like learning itself, online learning communities involve a certain level of disequilibrium or struggle with the problems and possibilities of their own creation and capacity. Thus so much depends upon how structural decisions are negotiated among organizers and participants.

However, it does seem a bit disappointing to listen to the authors cite the importance of the experience and research of others in planning and creating online learning communities without offering reflections or citing the work of others in this growing field. As such, I find myself somewhat skeptical of their findings.

References:

Anklem, P. (2007). Net work: A practical guide to creating and sustaining networks at work and in the world. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Charalambos, V., Michalinos, Z., & Chamberlain, R. (2004). The Design of Online Learning Communities: Critical Issues. Educational Media International, 41(2), pp. 135-143.

DuFour, R. (2004, May). What is a "Professional Learning Community"? Educational Leadership, 61(8), p. 6.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York: Cambridge University Press.

New York Measuring Teachers by Test Scores

How's that for a headline?

Here's the article itself by JENNIFER MEDINA, published January 21, 2008 in the New York Times.

This proposition could have a wide ranging impact across the teaching profession-- from layoffs, to pay increases, to publishing companies building testing and training materials.

I feel compelled to ask, does a teacher who scores high on a standardized test make a better teacher? They might be academically more gifted, but this doesn't mean he or she is a better teacher.

This article scratches the surface of a larger issue concerning evaluation and supervision. How are schools regularly assessing teachers? What instruments are being used? What is being done with the data?

When I taught in high school, I was evaluated once a year by the principle. This evaluation went into my file. I never attended a follow-up meeting (none was ever scheduled).

So how could the administration tell if I was a good teacher? I could simply assign all my students A's and never ask them to lift a finger.

My school became a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools. There we learned protocols for creating critical friends groups where teachers worked in teams across the grades and curriculae to provide meaningful feedback on lessons, assignments, grading concerns, etc.

So while the principal never saw much of me, my critical friends network did. This group showed me ways to be more effective, more visible, more concerted regarding the time and energy I put into creating meaningful experiences for my students.

The group and its organizational principles provided me an opportunity for building fellowship and trust with my peers as well as developing a clear purpose for evaluating my teaching and students' work.  

The moral of my story:

Organizational structures have more to do with teacher success than achievement scores. 

Click here for more information on social networks and teacher professional development.  

Preface

Here is a set of rough notes associated with net work -- the work associated with many online learning communities.

It is worth noting that there are several ways to consider a network. It can be seen as a system of intersecting lines or channels; an interconnected system of things or people; as well as, communication with and within a group of people.

Community, on the other hand, is sometimes defined as a group of people with shared characteristics or similar interests.

One might ask, "are the two the same?"

My initial response falls in the "well, sorta...but not exactly" camp.

Communities are conventionally associated with a sociological grouping of people, plants, or animals that share an environment. There can be networks within communities, i.e., interconnections and communication shared between group members. There can be communities within networks, as in, a group of football fans or accountants who regularly interact within an interconnected system.

Perhaps, networks are better framed as the infrastructures that allow communities to maintain their existence-- the ontological, a priori of communities. (Of course I could be completely off the mark here, thus my desire to share my thinking with a larger network of thinkers, writers, and practitioners and hopefully receive some feedback.) ---

Analyzing Social Networks

Given the task of analyzing social networks, Anklem (2007) provides a useful framework that captures four critical facets: a) the network's purpose, b) its structure, c) its style, and d) its value.

Every network, be it cyber-based, face-to-face, personal or professional, has an underlying purpose, and as such, every network creates value (p. 4). More specifically, Anklam (2007) notes that the purpose of a network "relates to the value the network creates, which may not always be articulated, but can always be discovered (pp. 4-5)."

In other words, the value of the network is related to the contributions made by individual and groups of members. (Think GIGO.)

Also worth considering is that within this shared space, there are a number of intangibles, i.e., variables associated with learning and meaning making, that occurs which can eventually be captured and quantified given the proper tools and lens'.

Agency

Since networks are built around human relationships, they represent a complex adaptive system, whose relationships change regularly. Each member of the network is an agent who has the capacity to make and impose choices on the world. (1) As Anklem points out, fundamentally, "Everyone in a network influences the relationships in and the outcomes of the network" (p. 5). Thus we might contend, networks possess a certain style in which participants engage one another, use a certain tone, or are more tolerant in terms of ideas, speech or behaviors than others.

A brief aside, Hegel (1807) suggested that there is more at stake than an individual free will concerning the notion of agency. Specifically, he argues that human agency represents more of a collective, historical dynamic (historicity), as opposed to a function rising from individual behavior. Hegel reminds us that there is a power associated with the sum-of-the-parts--an important component within the larger equation that serves the network. More recently, this same notion is presented in a concept of networks dubbed as "small pieces loosely joined" by Weinberger (2002).

Value

According to Anklem (2007), successful professional networks can be deemed valuable if they can bring together "shared learning, practice, fellowship" (p. 5). As such, Anklem (2007) suggests that "Value can be derived from a network when it is reflective and generative" (p. 6). To do this, Anklam's (2007) research points to the following factors associated with successful, generative, reflective networks:

• Creating--acting, i.e., doing the (net)work
• Contributing--sharing evidence/artifacts from one's practice
• Collaborating -- engaging other participants in further discussion/reflection
• Reflecting--commenting, follow up

As such network practice is iterative. Given the above model, network practice involves taking what you've learned, applying to one's own practice, reporting back to/through the network relating your experience--how what you learned impacted your practice.

Leadership

Networks are "complex, not chaotic" (p. 6). More specifically, successful networks are built upon a foundation where the "unknown and unexpected can be welcomed and managed" (p. 6). Thus, another important factor associated with successful networks is the need for clear norms that are negotiable by members for establishing the rules for for how people engage in interactions and acknowledge the contribution of others. Perhaps more importantly, it is role of the network leaders to model these accepted/negotiated norms (p. 6).

Summary

What is important to note is that the network is only as valuable and useful as what participants contribute. Networks can range from being loose and adaptive to rigid and prescribed. All networks serve a function and posses a purpose, structure, style, and value that also serve as ways to analyze networks. Finally, networks, whether they involve face-to-face meetings or online avatars, are about relationships--some are productive and professional, some are personal and quixotic. As such professional practice networks require organizational leadership to assist in modeling network norms and keeping the group focused.

Next steps:

Building a case for

• Communities of practice

• Leveraging technology

• Social Software

References: Anklem, P. (2007). Net work: A practical guide to creating and sustaining networks at work and in the world. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Hegel, G. W. F. (1807). The phenomenology of mind. Translated by J. B. Baillie. Retrieved 20 January 2008 from http://www.class.uidaho.edu/mickelsen/ToC/Hegel%20Phen%20ToC.htm.

Weinberger, D. (2002) Small pieces loosely joined: A unified theory of the Web New York: Perseus.

Images: Jack Goodlad Community Park by vasta. peddlers or agents by Shannon K. Magnifying Glass by dsb nola.

http://xl-medium.net/WPblog/2008/01/15/networks-as-learning-

Preface

As I begin compiling resources that will become chapter two of my dissertation (i.e., the literature review), I thought I would share relevant findings as they seem appropriate. This week I offer you an historical glimpse of social networks as a means of supporting teacher professional development.

Introduction

Over the past three decades, a re-examination and re-framing of the notions of teaching, learning and schooling (which includes a fundamental examination of practice, policy, and organizational structures for teachers) have been introduced by a number of educational researchers (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999a, 1999b; Darling-Hammond, 1993; Lieberman, 1992; McLaughlin & Talbert, 1993). These studies have clearly revealed a tremendous amount of information about the organizational structures and conditions that best support sustainable teacher learning over time.

Organizational structures

To begin with, research tells us that teacher professional development is only sustainable if the organizational conditions are appropriate (Lieberman, 2000, p. 221). While this might seem like common sense, given the pressure of school reform measures, accommodating emerging technologies and changes in organizational structures has, in many cases, proven difficult (Lieberman, 2000, p. 221). Educational bureaucracies often prescribe "one size fits all" solutions that many times ignore the specific training and developmental needs of teachers within their specific contexts. (Lieberman, 2000, p. 221). additionally, teachers are often "'developed' by outside 'experts,' rather than participating in their own development" (Lieberman, 2000, p. 221).

Development networks

While bureaucracies do provide much needed functionality in managing hundreds of teachers, they can prove unwieldy and untidy when it comes to responding to the emergent conditions and "discrete needs of schools, teachers, and students" (Lieberman, 2000, p. 221). Research has demonstrated that educational development networks that employ organizational structures that are loose, responsive, and accountable are well suited to this era of new technologies and potentially rapid change (Lieberman, 2000, p. 221).

Teacher professional development networks provide an organizational means to serve school-based educators within the context of their own work. This network is composed of school- and university-based educators and is organized "to work together to better serve students" (Lieberman, 2000, p. 226) by providing a context of support for each educator.

Accordingly, teacher professional development networks can emerge spontaneously or intentionally based on the need for people to work together "on an agreed-upon purpose" (Lieberman, 2000, p. 226). These agreed-upon purposes develop and shift over time, thus the need for organizational structures to be relatively loose and flexible. Being loose and flexible does not mean the organizational structure does not promote or provide accountability measures. Instead, accountability criteria become part of the networks structure wherein requisite measures and milestones are factored in to the networks underlying structures themselves.

The benefit of teacher professional development networks is that they support bureaucratic reforms by tying professional development and growth to the interests and needs of practitioners.

Historical perspectives and research

Sixty school improvement networks were explored in the late 1970s by Allen Parker. Parker's research (1977) identified five key operational characteristics within these networks:

• commitment to an idea
• shared purpose
• a mix of information sharing and psychological support
• a facilitator who insures participation and equal treatment
• an egalitarian ethos

Other educational researchers picked up and expanded Parker's analysis by examining the theoretical implications from both the inside of the network and outside (Miles, 1978; Rosenbaum, 1977, Schon, 1977; McLaughlin & Talbert, 1993; Newmann & Wehlage, 1995). McLaughlin and Talbert (1993) examined secondary schools over a 5-year period and discovered that teachers who took risks and looked for new ways of working with their students developed organic learning networks with their peers thusly creating norms for an open, supportive professional development environment. These networks provided a structure for practitioners to share lesson plans, to learn from one another, and support each other in their practice, what we might call a critical friends groups.

In 1995 Newmann and Wehlage conducted a national 5-year study examining the common characteristics of elementary schools that were intentionally retooling organizational structures to better meet the needs of their students. They discovered that successful schools featured a professional network of practitioners who took collective responsibility in working together to develop a shared, clear purpose towards improving student learning.

It is clear from both McLaughlin and Talbert's (1993) and Newmann and Wehlage's (1995) research that school-based professional learning communities provided educators with the kinds of organizational structures that made professional learning both continuous and sustainable.

1n 1996, Lieberman and Grolnick conducted research on 16 educational reform networks operating for a minimum of 5 years. They examined common themes and tensions associated with these networks and discovered that, regardless of the network's genesis, the networks themselves served as training grounds for practitioners to collaboratively work together, work toward building consensus, and commit to continuous learning and professional development (Lieberman & Grolnick, 1996). Collaboration and collaborative relationships provided opportunities for practitioners to build trusting among network members which is critical to the nurturing and development of new ideas. According to Lieberman and Grolnick (1996) these new ideas aided in the building of network "buzz," i.e., interest and participation, as participants ideas and practices further developed and transformed.

In terms of tensions that were noted by Lieberman and Grolnick's (1996) study, many practitioner participants in these networks were continuously trying to balance long-term goals and short-term needs within their network and their daily, professional (school-based) practice. In this regard, Lieberman (2000) notes:

"Sustaining educators' commitment and interest hinges on keeping work focused on practice. However, focusing on practice involves taking a position as to where the knowledge comes from that informs the work of the network. This is of great importance because networks are trying to bring people together who have different ways of acquiring, developing, and using knowledge (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 1993; Sirotnik and Goodlad, 1998). Keeping a balance between inside knowledge (the experiential knowledge of teachers) and outside knowledge (knowledge created by research and conceptualization) is a hallmark of successful collaboratives" (p. 223).

Summary

In order for professional teacher networks to survive, the energy, participation, and commitment of network participants is vital. Organizational structures must be able to work with the bureaucratic needs of federal, state, and local authorities, as well as the needs of the school-based practitioner. Teacher professional development networks can provide a bridge that supports administrative directives and the growth and development needs of practitioners.

Next steps

What organizational structures provide mechanisms that allow practitioners to meet individual, student, and administration needs? Are there specific strategies that support the creation and continuous nourishment of a teacher professional development network?

And you?

Your thoughts and suggestions are highly encouraged.

References:

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1993). Inside/outside: Teacher research and teacher knowledge. New York: Teachers College Press.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1999a). Teacher learning in professional communities: Three knowledge-practice relationships. In P.D. Pearson & A. Iran-Nejad (Eds.), Review of research in education (Vol. 24, pp. 251-307). Washington, DC: American educational Research Association.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1999b). The teacher research movement: A decade later. Educational Researcher, 28(7), 15-25.

Darling-Hammond, L. (1993). Reframing the school reform agenda: developing capacity for school transformation. Phi Delta Kappan, 74(10), 753-761. Lieberman, A. (1992, September). The meaning of scholarly activity and the building of community. Educational Researcher.

Lieberman, A. (2000). Networks as learning communities: Shaping the future of teacher development. Journal of Teacher Education, 51(3), 221-227.

Lieberman, A., & McLaughlin, M. W. (1992). Networks for educational change: Powerful and problematic. Phi Delta Kappan, 73(9), 673-677.

Lieberman, A., & Grolnick, M. (1996). Networks and reform in in American education. Teachers College Record, 98(1), 7-45.

McLaughlin, M. W., & Talbert, J. W. (1993). Contexts that matter for teaching and learning. Palo Alto, CA: Context Center on Secondary School Teaching.

Miles, M. B. (1978). On networking. Unpublished manuscript, Center for Policy Research, National Institute of Education, Washington, DC.

Newmann, F., & Wehlage, G. (1995). Successful school restructuring. Madison: Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Parker, A. (1977). Networks for innovation and problem solving and their use for improving education: A comparative overview. Unpublished manuscript, School Capacity for Problem Solving Group, National Institute for Education, Washington, DC.

Rosenbaum, A. (1977). Social networks as a policy resource: Some insights drawn from the community organizational and community action experiences. Unpublished manuscript, Network Development Staff, School Capacity for Problem Solving Group, National Institute of Education, Washington, DC.

Schon, D. A. (1977). Network related intervention. Unpublished manuscript, Center for Policy Research, national Institute of Education, Washington, DC.

Sirotnik, K., & Goodlad, J. I. (1988). School university partnerships: Concepts and cases. New York: Teachers College Press.

Google Images: typing from nlm.nih.com networks-2 from the University of Chicago SocialNetworks9 from licasdigital.com

On November 19th, I will be hosting a Second Life workshop for pre-service teachers from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. They are currently taking a course on instructional technology in teaching. They have already explored technology integration, internet safety, and information literacy. They’ve read a number of entries on this blog and then, as a group, composed a list of questions regarding technology integration in my classroom. For the next few weeks, we will be using this blog as a discussion platform.

If you are interested in following the discussion and interacting with teachers who, very soon, will be integrating technology into their subject areas in their own classrooms, please join us by responding to the questions, my own answers, or the comments left by the students. I hope that you will jump in and join the discussion, either here or by posting a response on your own blog. I want the students from Brigham Young to see that the edublogosphere is a varied and rich network. So, if you are a librarian, a high school teacher, an elementary teacher, or an administrator, please join me in this collaborative and mutually-enriching exercise in professional development. If you choose to express your views on your own blog, please use the following tag to make it easier for all of us to keep track of this discussion: BYUPD07.

So, let’s begin!

First of all, I’d like to thank the students from Brigham Young and their instructor for the opportunity to engage in this discussion. Those of us who have been blogging with our students or using other interactive tools often begin to live in a sort of bubble and forget that our first steps were often very hesitant. The questions you sent reminded me that meaningful integration of technology can be a challenging task - one that is often dominated by technical and Internet safety concerns, as well as the need to conform to institutional pressures at the school or district level. In other words, as I looked at the questions I remembered all the obstacles that I had to overcome when I first started thinking of creating a blogging community in my classroom. Now, I realize that while learning from other teachers is an important part of this process, implementing technology in my own classroom is a process that requires a lot of personal reflection. It’s a great opportunity to engage in some informal action research, learn more about myself, and the nature of my classroom practice. In other words, there is no clear, simple answer to any of the questions that you sent me. They are, however, great conversation starters. I hope that you will engage in a discussion here on this blog and that other readers of this blog will join us as we explore the issues you are interested in.

In this entry, I’d like to address your question on the set curriculum:

What are your feelings on a set curriculum? Do you believe we as teachers, and as human beings should have more freedom to be able to study and teach things that are important and that interest us, such as human rights abuses? What is the limit of going outside the curriculum? Is there such a limit?

Prior to researching and using a blogging community in my classroom I never had a problem with a set curriculum. I never even questioned it. It seemed logical to me that my responsibility as an educator was to prepare a collection of texts, resources, diagnostic and assessment/evaluation tools in order to achieve specific learning outcomes. I saw myself as a subject expert whose primary responsibility in the classroom was to teach a very specific set of skills and competencies. I saw myself as someone who possessed knowledge and perceived my students as individuals who needed to acquire it.

Then, one day, in my grade 12 English class, Julia came up to me after class and said:

“Mr.Glogowski, could you please take a look at my essay before I hand it in? I just wanna make sure that it’s ok.”

The essay was due at the end of that day. Julia was a conscientious student and thought that asking me to proofread it would give her another chance to revise her work, if necessary, and then hand it in in the afternoon.

I said, “Sure, let’s take a look.”

I skimmed her work and saw that it was well organized and supported with lots of specific examples from a variety of secondary sources. Julia wrote about the AIDS crisis in Africa and seemed to have a solid grasp of the topic.

“This looks great!” I said. “You can hand it in now. No need to wait till this afternoon.”

“Thank you. But could you take a good look? You see, I’m worried about little careless mistakes … you know they’re never really serious but they do add up.”

“Julia,” I said, “you’ve written essays in the past. You’re a good writer … I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”

“But … could you just take a good look at the thesis statement and the hook? Also, I’m not sure my supporting sentences flow very well. The conclusion took me hours to write … now it seems forced.”

I skimmed through her work again, this time focusing on the specific parts that she was unsure about.

“No, I don’t see any major weaknesses here … I’m sure you’ll do well.”

“Thanks … but … will this get me 89%?”

“Why 89%?” I asked, puzzled.

“I need 89% on this assignment to get into Queen’s.”

That’s when I realized that, to Julia - one of the best students in my class, one of the best writers - writing was really only about getting a grade. It had no other meaning or purpose. All of her learning was reduced to one thing - the need to achieve a certain average.

Of course, the whole system is based on evaluation. It wasn’t just my classroom and my methodology that transformed Julia into an average-calculating automaton. Yet, as I was driving home that day, I thought, “She did not engage with her topic at all. She wrote about human rights in Africa and yet she didn’t really seem to care about the issues she had researched. Instead, all she cared about was her average. Writing that paper was a means to an end. It certainly was not an opportunity to engage with a topic, to engage as a human being.”

I realized that my classroom was a place where there was a lot of teaching going on, but not a lot of learning. When talking to me about her work, Julia had used an adopted voice. She spoke about the thesis statement, the hook, about effective support. She used the terminology that I had been using since the beginning of the school year. She realized that school is about “playing school,” that as long as she could jump through all of my hoops, she would do well and get into the university of her choice. My class was reduced to an obstacle course. She knew that writing a good paper was about learning how to produce the right reactions in its evaluator - her teacher. That’s why she asked about specific parts of the essay - the introduction, conclusion, specific supporting ideas - things that were part of my set curriculum. What she produced was an example of “school writing.” It was voiceless and generic, written to demonstrate that she had acquired a skill but devoid of any personal meaning.

And so, the problem with a set curriculum, regardless of the subject, is that it makes us focus almost exclusively on teaching. It makes us think that the most important person in the classroom is the teacher. It is based on the assumption that we know all and that the students know very little.

Should we have the freedom to study and teach things that are important to us as human beings? Absolutely. What is even more important is that we create environments in our classrooms where the students can explore issues that are important to them. Of course, they do need to know how to write an essay or organize a written response - I believe that it is my responsibility to help them learn how to best express their thoughts. But I also believe that it is my responsibility to help them learn how to express themselves in more than one medium and to support them as they engage in this process. In every subject, there is a set of skills and competencies that the children should learn, but we often believe that they must be taught in specific, pre-defined ways.

After that brief conversation with Julia, I realized that I had pre-defined all of her learning. I reduced English and writing to topic sentences and proper organization. No wonder then that Julia’s topic was not as important to her as the technical aspects of her writing. As a teacher, I had completely neglected her growth as a human being and focused instead on peddling pre-selected content. Of course, I should be proud of the fact that I had, after all, taught her a great deal about writing essays. But, at the same time, I wish that I had done it in an environment where knowledge was not presented as a static product to be absorbed. Imagine how much more competent she could have become as a writer if she had been given the opportunity to arrive at the importance of solid support as a result of trial and error, peer editing, and in the context of her own journey as a budding writer. Instead, she acquired the skills through automatic drills. In other words, I wish I had taught those skills in an environment where she could also explore her own passions and grow as a human being.

This brings me to John Dewey and his notion of experience. In Experience and Education, Dewey argues that amid all uncertainties in education “there is one permanent frame of reference: namely, the organic connection between education and personal experience.” He goes on to say that:

There is no such thing as educational value in the abstract. The notion that some subjects and methods and that the acquaintance with certain facts and truths possess educational value in and of themselves is the reason why traditional education reduced the material of education so largely to a diet of predigested materials.

and

What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win ability to read and write, if in the process the individual loses his own soul; loses his appreciation of things worth while, of the values to which these things are relative; if he loses the desire to apply what he has learned and, above all, loses the ability to extract meaning from his future experiences as they occur?

In other words, Dewey argues that no subject has inherent educational value. It is the interaction between the individual and the subject matter that makes the experience “educative” and that our job as educators is to ensure that the environment in which learning takes place allows learners to interact with the subject matter. He argues that “educative experiences” must “arouse in the learner an active quest for information and for production of new ideas. The new facts and new ideas thus obtained become the ground for further experiences in which new problems are presented.”

The environment in which Julia wrote her essay did not provide opportunities for interaction between the learner and the subject matter. The skills she had learned were removed from any meaningful context. They were neatly pre-packaged and delivered. As a result, her learning stopped once she finished the paper. There was nothing to motivate her to keep exploring her topic of the AIDS crisis in Africa. Dewey would have said that since no experience has an inherent value, I erred when I selected experiences ahead of time for my students and neglected to create an environment where personally relevant interactions could take place.

Julia taught me that my classroom needs to be first and foremost an inclusive and welcoming environment that encourages exploration and knowledge-building. It needs to be a place where students can engage as individuals. In this kind of environment students can learn through personally meaningful experiences which engage them in what Dewey calls “an active quest for information and for production of new ideas.” This cannot happen if the curriculum is pre-selected for the students. If the experiences they are to have in the classroom are pre-defined ahead of time, the opportunities for meaningful involvement are greatly reduced.

Unfortunately, such an environment is not easy to create. First, because it must be co-created with the students. It must take into account their interests and goals. Second, because it dethrones the teacher and forces us to assume the role of a facilitator or a co-contributor. It requires that we participate as human beings and not just content experts. It requires that we engage in learning with our students.

I’ve been trying to create that environment in my classroom for the past two years. I cannot say that I’ve succeeded or that everything I do always works out. I can say, however, that I have learned a lot from these attempts to create an engaging and participatory environment, and that they have tremendously affected my classroom practice. That’s all it really takes … finding in ourselves the courage to admit openly that we enter our classrooms every day not just to teach but also - perhaps primarily - to learn.

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Last month, in preparation for my K12Online Conference presentation, I re-read Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Good Business. Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning. In it, he states that the experience of flow - when the person is totally immersed in an activity and genuinely enjoying the moment - comes from “the steps one takes toward attaining a goal, not from actually reaching it.” He adds that:

People often miss the opportunity to enjoy what they do because they focus all their attention on the outcome, rather than savoring the steps along the way. Where does the pleasure in singing come from - finishing the song, or producing each note or phrase? … To be overly concerned with the ultimate goal often interferes with performance. If a tennis player thinks only of winning the match, she won’t be able to respond to her opponent’s powerful serve … our primary concern here is not with what constitutes a successful performance, but with the quality of experience during performance. If we agree that the bottom line of life is happiness, not success, then it makes perfect sense to say that it is the journey that counts, not reaching the destination.

In education, however, the product - the grade, the final draft, the test mark - still often takes precedence over the process of learning - the sense of personal journey without which the final destination is meaningless. What is even worse is that many of our students are very comfortable with that idea. To them, school is often about “playing the game.” They follow along, raise hands, submit assignments, study for tests. Of course, there is nothing wrong with these activities as long as they do not impede their progress as independent thinkers, researchers, and writers. Unfortunately, most of the time, “playing the game” means following the rules that we’ve set up for the students. We bring in the hoops, and the students jump through them. It’s an easy process for everyone involved.

In my classroom - a predominantly blogging classroom - things have to be different. I believe that it is my role as an educator to ensure that my students are given opportunities to grow as individuals, and are not treated as mere pupils who passively receive information. As a result, the traditional approach to teaching and learning, to assessment and evaluation, has to be modified. It is a difficult process for both the students and the teacher. It is a process in which the classroom becomes more of a studio where learners engage with concepts that they find interesting and personally relevant. It becomes a place where they are given opportunities to create their own networks and become experts in their chosen fields.

In order to create that classroom, however, I need to continue to tweak my classroom practice. The students need a different, more conversational, expressive, and individualized kind of support. They also need to be gradually eased into their new roles of independent researchers.

At the beginning of the year, I always talk to my students about “growing” their own blog. It is a challenging concept because, when they are first introduced to blogging, they are all under the impression that everything they write will be graded and that their blog is just an electronic version of their notebook or journal. So, when at the beginning of the year, I start talking about blogging and the steps that the students need to take to “grow” their own blog, they are always a bit confused and surprised - my words suggest a lot of freedom, and freedom, as we all know, is not something that students associate with school.

For two years, I struggled to verbally explain the concept to them, with varying results. This year, however, I had a visual tool.

I created it this past summer and could not wait to use it in class. When I finally used it last month, the results were encouraging. The students looked at it and, when I said “I’d like you to think about how you are going to grow your own blog,” they knew exactly what I meant.

The diagram I created is intended to help them visualize their progress over the course of a school year. It assumes that blogging is not about posting an entry in response to a homework assignment but about engaging in writing that is personally relevant. The diagram helps students define their goals and ways of reaching them. It helps them realize that blogging is not about posting well thought-out entries, and that each entry does not need to present a definitive and complete view on a given topic. Rather, it helps them see that blogging is about engaging with ideas.

Blogs are perfect tools to encourage and assist students in cognitive engagement. Blogging is a process, a conversation. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the year, my students tend to see each blog entry as the equivalent of a well-composed paragraph response or even an essay. I admit, there is nothing wrong with producing well-written and well organized entries as long as the entry is not an end in itself, as long as the process of intellectual engagement does not end once the piece is posted. I want my students to understand that bloggers blog because they are on a journey, a quest, and that every entry is an opportunity to continue that journey.

So, when they see this handout, this planning sheet, the students realize that the academic year ahead of them is an opportunity to produce a body of work, to stay engaged, to use their time productively doing things they’re interested in as opposed to completing assignments for their teacher.

This planning sheet, called How to Grow a Blog, consists of three parts.

The first part refers to the blooming flower - the goal of any gardener or a serious blogger. This is the long-term goal. When I explain this first part, I say to my students that they should think about what they want their blog to represent at the end of the year. I tell them that they need a personal goal. I say that once they start blogging, they will continue to add to their blog thus creating a body of work. “What,” I ask them, “do you want to see there right before you graduate? What do you want the visitors to your blog to think when they see it in June? What do you want to accomplish?”

Keep in mind, this is not easy. Generally speaking, the only time students in grade eight think about long-term goals is when they worry about grades or getting into the high school programme of their choice. Engagement with ideas lasts only until the assigned deadline. Once the assignment is handed in, the engagement ends. Blogging is very different, of course, and the diagram helps them realize that.

Once they choose a personal goal, a topic that they want to pursue, I ask the students to fill in the bottom part, called “The Right Habitat.” Here, the students have to think about the steps they need to take in order to create the right environment for their blogs.

This part asks them to think about the root system for their blog. Where are the nutrients going to come from? Where will I find nourishment as a thinker and researcher? This is an opportunity to consider the fact that in order to learn and engage with ideas, one needs a habitat that will support it, and that the best way to build just such a habitat is to find other people and resources that one can converse with. In other words, I want the students to learn that blogging is about initiating and sustaining conversations. So, I ask them, “Now that you know what you would like to research or document on your blog, where is the inspiration going to come from, where are your ideas going to come from? What kinds of resources are you going to include in your habitat to help you grow your blog and extend your thinking?”

So, having chosen their goals, the students look for online resources that will help them learn more about their chosen topics. This is a perfect opportunity for me to make it very clear that blogs are about learning. Once they choose their topics, I always ask them how much they already know about the topic. The answers vary, of course, but fairly quickly the students realize that they do not know much about the chosen topic, even if it is something they are very passionate about. And so, a discussion about blogging turns into a discussion about learning. “Where will you go online to learn more about your chosen topic?” I ask them, “Who will you interact with and learn from?” This is how they begin to build their networks.

Finally, I give them time to consider habits and commitments - that’s what the stem represents in my diagram. I want them to think about the kinds of habits that, in their opinion, will be necessary to accomplish their goals. If the goal is to produce a body of work on globalization, for example, then they need to ask themselves what is required of them, on a daily and weekly basis, to achieve that goal. This is a difficult part for them to fill out because it requires a certain degree of self-knowledge. If they want their blogs to bloom, then they must think about the steps they need to take every day to ensure that they are on track. They must also know themselves and decide on the steps they need to take to develop good habits.

I believe that the most effective part of this diagram is that it gives the students an opportunity to do some long-term planning, which is not an easy task because, as students, they are used to short-term goals, such as finishing tonight’s homework. At the same time, they have to think about the little steps, the daily activities and posts and where they will come from. They need to find the right habitat that will inform their work. They need to think about strategies and habits necessary to both start and continue their journey.

In short, the goal of using this handout is twofold: to help students plan and begin their journey, and to think about the habits they will need for that journey. I want them to understand that the most valuable part of blogging is the process of interacting with ideas and people, not producing finished assignments on assigned topics. This planning sheet helps them define their long-term goals but, at the same time, it also helps them see that blogging is a journey. I have already noticed that this handout and the instructional conversations that it initiates help the students realize that successful learning is not about submitting definitive pieces on assigned topics, but primarily about what Csikszentmihalyi calls “the quality of experience,” a sense of meaningful immersion in one’s pursuits.

The challenge, of course, is that the students perceive traditional school work as something that is safe, much safer than becoming an independent researcher. They often find comfort in the fact that as long as the questions are answered and the work handed in, they will continue to do well as students. Blogging, on the other hand, is initially a big unknown. There are no deadlines and no clear guidelines. After years of jumping through hoops, students are suddenly faced with a lot of freedom which they often find overwhelming. I’ve noticed that the planning sheet I developed can provide a solid support mechanism that many young bloggers need at the beginning of this journey. It’s a good tool to use in order to start a process of conversational feedback and assessment.

Below, you will find some examples of how my students filled out their How to Grow a Blog planning sheets. Keep in mind that what these sheets represent is the start of their journey as researchers and writers. They provide me with an opportunity to engage students in meaningful conversations that can eventually lead to meaningful and long-term personal engagement on student blogs. Your feedback on this handout and the strategy behind it would be truly appreciated. If you are interested in using or modifying this planning sheet, please feel free to download it. If you do choose to use it, either in its original or modified form, please send me your feedback.

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The first two full weeks of school are now behind me. My grade eight students have been given their blogs. They posted their first entries. The class blogging portal is slowly filling up with student voices. Naturally, I look forward to seeing how these voices will interact and intertwine.

What I am really concerned about, however, is my own voice. For the past three years, my three successive grade eight classes enjoyed blogging and created successful and engaging blogging communities. Most of the time, this development took place without me. While I certainly encouraged my bloggers, discussed their work in class, and posted comments to involve my students in instructional conversations, I have always been absent as a person. This year, I want things to be different.

This year, I want my personal voice to be present in the community. I will, of course, continue to be present as Mr.Glogowski, the grade eight Language Arts teacher. I will be present in my didactic and supportive role of an educator, of a classroom teacher who guides and explains. At the same time, I want to be present as Konrad Glogowski, the human being who has his own interests and views. I want to be present as an individual, not an individual reduced to one role.

In other words, I want the students to see me as yet another blogger in their community, as someone whose reason for being there is not only to support and instruct but also to learn. To learn from and with my students.

My own blog in our class blogosphere has always been used to post updates, assignments, commentary on student work, and words of encouragement. For years, it was called “The Language Arts Blog,” or “Mr. Glogowski’s Blog” or something equally official and unimaginative. The name of my blog has always reflected my one-dimensional presence in the community - the voice of a teacher. I don’t think my students ever perceived it as a blog - a place where the author shares his thoughts, ideas, or experiences and engages in meaning-making. It was a place that my students would visit regularly to read their latest assignment or download a rubric. I don’t think they ever learned anything from my own blog. They learned from the instructional conversations that I engaged with them on their own blogs, but certainly not from my own blog in the class blogosphere. It has always been an uninspiring place, a kind of online bulletin board.

Last year, I started experimenting by posting entries that reflected my own interests. However, I always made sure that they also related to the curriculum. When we read and discussed Animal Farm, for example, I posted some links to articles on totalitarian leaders or on the fragile nature of democracy in developing nations. There needed to be, it seemed to me, a clear link between what we were reading in class and what the students saw on my blog. Everything that I posted on my blog was designed to cultivate an adopted persona and to fit within the confines of the curriculum.

This year, I want to move beyond blogging only about course-related topics. I want my students to see what I am interested in, what makes me mad, what fascinates me, what I write like when I write as someone other than Mr.Glogowski, the Language Arts teacher. In short, I want to be myself and am beginning to take small steps towards this goal.

I started by giving my blog a different name. The titles I used before were too official, too limiting, too school-like. They were institutional and impersonal. This year, the title of my blog is “…looking at things for a long time.” It comes from a quote by Vincent Van Gogh, which, in its entirety, reads: “It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper understanding.” I chose it because I feel that it represents who I am as a person and a teacher. I chose it because I believe that the habit Van Gogh recommends in this quote is something that I want my students to develop as well. I want them to be critical, attentive readers and thinkers. I want them to take the time to achieve that “deeper understanding.”

I also chose an avatar. I chose the picture of the fern globe suspended above the Civic Square in Wellington, New Zealand that I took last year (almost exactly a year ago) while participating in the FLNW unconference. It represents one of the most inspiring experiences in my life as an educator and researcher. It also, as a globe, represents unity and peace - values that are important to me as a human being and educator.

In addition to using an avatar, I also used the “About Me” feature of my blog to post a paragraph that explains my reasons for choosing the title and the avatar. My students need to know the reasons behind these decisions - they will provide them with an important glimpse into my personality. They will help them see me as more than just their Language Arts teacher.

The “About Me” page of my blog also contains two quotes that represent my views on writing:

“A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
- Thomas Mann

“Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.”
- John Ruskin

I also uploaded my own background image to further personalize my blog. It is no longer just a virtual class bulletin board. It’s becoming a place that reflects the values and interests of its owner:

Of course, these visual changes, while important, are not sufficient to transform my blog into a personal online space. Blogs, after all, are defined by writing, and not merely their appearance. So, this morning, I posted my first personal entry. I wrote about an article on the recent protests in Myanmar and commented on the treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been held under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years. I also linked to a call to action video recorded by Jim Carrey. The post has little to do with what we are currently studying in class. I wrote about it because it moved me as a human being. I posted it on my personal blog in the class blogosphere because I want my students to understand who I am as a human being. Why? Mostly because that human being will walk into their classroom tomorrow. If we are to be a community of learners, we need to know each other as individuals, not people who, for six hours every day, play assigned roles.

In other words, I don’t believe teachers should engage in self-censorship. If we do, then our students end up interacting with an automaton, an actor performing a role. Our schools, administrators, and classrooms cannot demand that the richness that makes us human be stripped down because the students are only fourteen, for example, and should not read about human rights abuses, or because time in class should be used only to study the curriculum.

Tomorrow, I will post an entry about a book I started reading last week. It is entitled 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa. It does not relate to our grade eight curriculum. It does, however, reflect my interest in social justice and I will blog about it every time I finish a chapter or two because that is how I learn, that is how I interact with things that I find important. So, I’m beginning to use my blog to define myself as more than a classroom teacher. Mr. Glogowski, the teacher, is an important part of my life, but it should not exclude other aspects of what makes me who I am.

So, fairly soon, my students will see that I am more than my role as a Language Arts teacher suggests. They will see that I am a teacher who is also interested in social justice, foreign affairs, and human rights. They will see that I am a teacher who is also interested in photography and who collects old books and maps. They will get many glimpses into my life. I hope that they will understand that what makes a community is a network of human beings who have the freedom to be who they truly are and whose richness enhances the value of the community they inhabit.

If education is essentially a social process, then the teacher needs to be part of the learning community, not only as its facilitator but also as one of its members. When students are part of a learning community, a blog titled “Mr.Glogowski’s Blog” will stick out and suggest that the community is really a school-sanctioned place where Mr. Glogowski presides because he has already learned all there is to know about his subject. I do not know all there is to know. I use Web 2.0 to expand my knowledge and to engage in meaning-making. I want to be connected to the class community as a learner. I want my students to see how I engage in negotiating meaning.

I have taken the steps I described above because I believe that a teacher’s blog needs to be a personal space. It needs to be a place where I become visible as an individual and where my experiences - joys, disappointments, struggles, successes, moments of inspiration and epiphany - are shared with the community. It needs to be a place of authentic personal attempts at meaning-making, a place where I engage as Konrad Glogowski and not only as Mr.Glogowski, the content expert.

In her preface to Teaching Community, bell hooks argues that her book “offers practical wisdom about what we do and can continue to do to make the classroom a place that is life-sustaining and mind-expanding, a place of liberating mutuality where teacher and student together work in partnership.” There can be no true partnership in a classroom where the teacher can hide behind an adopted persona while students are encouraged to be individual learners and bloggers. We cannot expect students to engage as individuals, to blog as human beings, to share their experiences, passions, interests, and struggles if, as teachers, we are not willing to do the same.

And so, my inspiration for the coming weeks comes from Teaching to Transgress where bell hooks states:

When education is the practice of freedom, students are not the only ones who are asked to share, to confess. Engaged pedagogy does not seek simply to empower students. Any classroom that employs a holistic model of learning will also be a place where teachers grow, and are empowered by the process. That empowerment cannot happen if we refuse to be vulnerable while encouraging others to take risks. Professors who expect students to share confessional narratives but who are themselves unwilling to share are exercising power in a manner that could be coercive. In my classrooms, I do not expect students to take any risks that I would not take, to share in any way that I would not share. When professors bring narratives of their experiences into classroom discussions it eliminates the possibility that we can function as all-knowing, silent interrogators. It is often productive if professors take the first risk, linking confessional narratives to academic discussions so as to show how experience can illuminate and enhance our understanding of academic material. But most professors must practice being vulnerable in the classroom, being wholly present in mind, body, and spirit.

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