Sunday, November 16, 2008
Leaving a Record
I was reading Amy's post in response to an NYTimes article on Obama during his teaching days at University of Chicago. As I was looking for that article, I ran across Teaching Law, Testing Ideas, Obama Stood Slightly Apart by Jodi Kantor, also in the NYTimes. I've been percolating on a quote from the article. In explaining why Obama had not published anything as a college professor, a colleague of Obama's surmised that Obama was unwilling to put his name to anything that could haunt him politically. This idea, of course, is not new. But as I venture into my first blogging experience, I've started to wonder if I'm ever going to regret any of what I post here...
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5 comments:
I am glad you were inspired to seek out the article, and I'm glad you liked it. As far as your question - I was actually thinking the same thing about my own blog - will I regret anything I write? At the present moment, I say no, but you never know what people will find or interpret in what I say. I guess I take comfort in the fact that there are so many otehrs taking that same risk.
Think back to what you were saying and doing ten years ago? My guess is that there are things you are very proud of that still hold relevence today. There are also some things that were profound at the time but will show a lack of understanding compared with our current set of information. Finally there will be a small portion that fits into the "what the @#$%#@ was I thinking". I believe this new forum will cause use to really think about what we are saying prior to putting it out there. This should help eliminate many of our DUH moments and allow us to create more dialogue that we are proud of.
It's comforting to hear that other people feel the same way about what they post online. I was just thinking about this issue last night as I posted to our UW Tech wiki. I recently opened a facebook account and I do have to be careful about what I post on there. I find that I am always conscious about what I post. I don't want anything to come back to haunt me years from now. I do love how quickly you can get a response with these social medias, but I do take some comfort in the privacy that email gives us.
Having read various blogs from other teachers I am really sure that no one seems to be too worried about what they say. One teacher went on about how much trouble they were having with an extended family member. How does this relate to a blog about social studies and using technology in the classroom??? I really hope that there is some restraint about how we use this to communicate with each other,or it will come back to haunt us.I think,that if the supposition about Obama is true, that it gives great insight into how a "politcal person" thinks.
Yeah, it's a problem. I haven't been working for anyone but myself for a long time, but I mightily resented the curtailing of my civil liberties when I worked for schools.
It's amazing that one of the first things you learn when you work for an institution that allegedly teaches "character" is that you are not allowed to have any if you teach.
I feel your pain, and wish you luck.
Brian (a.k.a. Professor Homunculus at MathMojo.com )
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