Tuesday Night Reflections

So, I'm sitting here in my classroom thinking about this whole 'connectedness' idea of what I intend for these blogs to eventually provide. As carefully (but as sincerely) as I can, I'm going to try to repeat what I've been pushing in class, and with time, some dedication on all of our parts, and maybe a little luck, things should go well....

What I think a classroom blog SHOULD be....
A safe place on the web for us as class to share with each other, as we learn together. It's supposed to be a learning community.

A place that allows for the individuality of both the instructor and students, allows us to have a sense of humour, and above all, a place that allows us to improve the status quo from a more traditional classroom instruction model.

A place that focuses mainly on course material and the human interactions that go along with being responsible for learning that material...(after all, some people say that math is hard?!)

What I think a classroom blog SHOULDN'T be........

A place to rant or vent irresponsibly, especially since THIS IS ON THE INTERNET FOREVER!!! Maybe before you post your next class scribe effort, ask yourself some questions like "If my Mom/Dad/Grandma/person I care about /were to read this, they'd like my contribution and support future blog posts like this", or how about "What kind of person do I appear to be if this is what I'm putting out there for the world to read today".....I'm not saying that I'm in favour of editing or censorship, but this is a classroom, this is a school, I am your teacher, and you are my students. Period.

A place to gain/maintain social status at the expense of anyone, anywhere. If it isn't positive, why post it? What good will it do? At risk of sounding like my father (who is a great guy, by the way), something like the Rotarian 4-way Test could apply here. I challenge you reading this to go out and google it, and then reply to this post with the 4-way test. (If you want to cheat, hit this link)

A terribly personal place where we all go to share our innermost feelings (uggg..). I'm not likely to discuss the details of my soon-to-be-born second child's delivery, nor my plans for Christmas vacation on my school/classroom blog. It just isn't the place for such things.....The older I get, the more I wonder if the saying "There's a time and place for everything" makes sense, but I guess the point is that if it doesn't have much to do with math, or what's going in my classroom, it really doesn't belong on these blogs....

Enough for now...and I'm going to post this on all three of my ongoing blogs (URL's on this page)....As always, reply thoughtfully, honestly, and often....
later,
R.