Can transparency be detrimental?
June 5, 2007
I’ve blogged about my concerns about blogger transparency before. This time it may have taken its toll.
1. Read this post.
2. Read this comment.
3. Then read this comment by the post’s author.
Now you tell me, when your “head” (substitute “principal” or whatever) approaches you about a post like that, does it forebode bad things?
What do you think? Did Doug go too far? In a perfect world he (or any of us) could say what we want without fear of reprimand. I am sure most of us would appreciate that level of transparency. But with Doug headed for an Ed.D and a higher-level job, does his blogging affect his job chances?
Would your blog affect yours?
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June 5th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Chris,
Transparency is okay, as long as you don’t check professionalism at the door, when you go online. IMHO it is all about being a professional, in whatever you do. Here in Ontario Canada, it reminds me of a recent article about teacher conduct outside the classroom.
http://www.oct.ca/publications/professionally_speaking/june_2007/professional_boundries.asp
“The Supreme Court upheld the notion that teachers are, in a sense, always on duty through three court cases known as the trilogy. The court determined that “teachers do not necessarily check their teaching hats at the school yard gate and may be perceived to be wearing their teaching hats even off duty.”
June 6th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Wow! At first, as a principal, it would make me mad that a teacher was taking out his/her frustrations on the whole blogging world. I would want to get to the bottom of the frustration level and have a heart to heart with the teacher. Sounds like this teacher needs to be heard ‘locally’ so he/she doesn’t have to take it out on the internet.
You have to have someone to vent to just hopefully not on the internet.
I am not blind. I know there are times that I make my teachers mad and I also know that there are times of the year that are worse than others. I even have to remind myself sometimes at midterm and report card time, that this too shall pass
I am completely supportive of being transparent and if you don’t think I am ‘careful’ when I blog your not thinking straight. ANYONE
June 6th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
ANYONE can read this (I hit the wrong button and submitted my comment before I was done. ) Isn’t this just like complaining in the workroom?
I guess I have just found blogging to be a positive experience in getting to know teachers perspectives on things. I don’t tend to read the negative blogs so I had to force myself to respond to this. As you noticed some of the comments posted on this blog bought into the negative venting. You may also notice on other positive blogs, the positive comments come out and are fun to read.
I guess I could go on and on.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:56 am
I’m disappointed to see that one-time visitors to my blog have labelled it as ‘negative’ after reading a single post. The reason I feel justified in writing what I did is because of the amount of effort I put into changing the world of education for the better.
In the end, the meeting I had with the Head (about a different matter) went well and he understood my frustrations. It’s not as if I named the school or individuals, or in fact said anything which is libelous…
June 7th, 2007 at 9:51 am
There is always more to the story and I am glad that was clarified in your comment. You can see what can happen with one post. I did go back and read your other posts and realize you must have been having a bad day. Please keep blogging! Just the reflections help even administrators. What if your students read that post, how are they going to feel? Doesn’t matter if you mentioned where you work students can find it on the internet.
June 7th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Doug - anyone who has been reading your blog for any length of time knows the high quality professional discussion that you bring to the table.
I’m referring to Chris’s interpretation of transparency, which btw gets magnified 10 fold by using microblogging tools like twitter and jaiku.
June 10th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
I personally, was subject to legal threats regarding an issue I raised on a mailing list. (Sometimes the emperor does not take lightly to being alerted to the fact that he is wearing no clothes.) Common sense prevailed and the issue fizzled out.
I recently posted an article on my blog describing some of the more overt change hindering techniques being applied in schools.
http://c21skills.blogspot.com/2007/04/digital-what.html
The immediate anonymous response was threatening and intimidating (especially in the light of my previous experience). The comment was claimed to have been made in jest. But many would testify that the tone was in fact the same tone that is used regularly to supress innovation (which is seen as a threat.)
I stood by my post and in the subsequent responses things were somewhat clarified.
But the lesson is there: Be careful!
June 11th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Seems like a trend but does transparency=criticism? It seems it is not the bloggers that have issues with dealing with transparency but those whose practices aren’t quite transparent.
June 11th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Very good point! It is very hard for principals/administrators to be transparent. I am working very hard on that one. I have benefited from listening to the different perspectives in this discussion.