Each week as I think about the time in my placement, there are always a bunch of incidents/conversations/ideas which I need to think through, and would welcome the perspective of the rest of the cohort. But, because I worry that somehow, someday, a teacher from my school will randomly come across this blog, I don't write about it. Does anyone else worry about this?
Certainly this limits what I blog about to safer topics - and that also generally keeps it away from the topics that I am working and worrying about at any given time.
Certainly this limits what I blog about to safer topics - and that also generally keeps it away from the topics that I am working and worrying about at any given time.
I agree with you, this can be tricky, and sometimes I wish we had one public blog for teaching 'big ideas' and another private blog for our cohort to have discussions about placements etc....although, I guess that's what the C18 email list is for. I've thought about this as well, and I've decided that I can write about issues and questions that come up during my placement, I just have to do it in the right way.
ReplyDeleteTurn your incident into a hypothetical situation. Change the details surrounding your question so you're still getting at the 'big idea', but the moment won't be recognizable. Question the idea, not the person. Use nondescript language when introduction your question, "An experienced teacher once told me..." and then reword the statement so you're still getting at the issue/question, you're addressing a big picture idea now in a vague way, without that moment being recognizable to anyone else. And of course, no names.