Blogging as Conversation or Reflection?

Photo from Microsoft Office clip art

"In blogging, authorship is transformed in a way that recognizes the participation of others as fundamental to the process. A blogger is not writing to an audience; he is facilitating the construction of an interpretive community. Blogging is also a personally transformative experience. Because a person's blog is subject to change and revision by others, the influence of the collective can powerfully and meaningfully shape the blogger's view of the world, just as the blogger, at the same time, can shape the collective."
-A New Culture of Learning, page 66

This is really not how I have been approaching my blog. It's really been more a place for me to do my own reflecting and thinking. Truthfully, I usually hope that only a few people will read it. In fact, the biggest fear I've had about posting to other blogs is that the authors will link back to me and read what I've written!

Why the fear? I just don't feel like my ideas about teaching are ready to share yet. Most of them are still so hypothetical - things I'd like to do or things I'm thinking about. They are more like the beginnings of ideas than fully formed ones. Not quite ready for the light of day or the "transformative experience" of "the participation of others."

It's funny to have this fear about blogging because I really like having people watch me teach. I enjoy having parents, administrators, and other visitors in the classroom and am disappointed if they arrive just as I am handing the class back over to my cooperating teacher. I like how being observed heightens my awareness of what I'm doing and I like the feedback. Maybe that's what blogging about teaching could be like ....

Watching our kids use Kidblog helped me to see how conversational blogging can be - and how easily it could be used in the classroom.  Seeing how these second graders approached learning this new piece of technology was also an amazing learning experience for me because they just had fun; they played with it and enjoyed learning the features. I need to remember to enjoy learning new things ... to play more.

"Today, however, children and adults alike must continue to deal with an ever-changing, expanding world ... In a world of near-constant flux, play becomes a strategy for embracing change, rather than a way for growing out of it." (A New Culture of Learning, page 48).

I have grown to appreciate the work of teachers who are making their teaching public through their blogs. I especially like reading about their willingness to try new things for students and their willingness to share both the successes and the learning experiences.

As my confidence grows, I hope I can become more a part of this conversation because there are some really rich conversations going on out there in the blogosphere!