Willing to be Disturbed?

Today Miguel picked up on the recent Houston Chronicle article about teachers who blog. I responded with some initial thoughts on Miguel’s post, but wanted to expand on my thoughts in a little more detail here.

Unlike the educators referred to in the Chronicle’s article, I choose to blog using my real identity — and I made the decision to do so as soon as I started blogging last year. I wanted my blog writing to be a reflection of the educator and leader that I strive to be — an educational leader who is reflective, transparent in my own learning, and positive and proactive as opposed to negative and reactive. I want readers of my blog to understand who I am and where I come from (physically and philosophically) — and to be authentic. I have more to say on “why I blog the way I blog” — but I’ll save that for a little later in this post.

If you are interested in reading my thoughts on the Chronicle’s article, Miguel’s post, and my thoughts on this issue in general, please click below to continue reading this post…

Technorati Tags: blogging, change, edublogosphere, education, innovation, leadership, learning, Margaret Wheatley, Web2.0

First — here is the comment that I posted on Miguel’s blog:

1) The Chronicle article focused on the negatives — educators blogging to “vent”. Fortunately, we know that there is far more positive “sharing” and “collaborative learning” occurring than there is “venting” in the edublogoshpere.

2) This article came out after last week’s “blog vent fest” on the Chronicle’s School Zone blog — in response to the Chronicle posting the names and bonus amounts of teachers who received performance bonuses. At last count there were over 400 comments on one post about the performance bonuses. I won’t post the link — that might be construed as performing an inflamatory act — just go to the chron.com website, scroll down to blogs and click on “more”, then scroll down to “School Zone” if you want to find out more about this issue.

3) Rather than crack down on education bloggers, districts should begin to leverage the skills and knowledge of those early-adopters to promote a model of professional learning and collaboration. Districts need to learn to be more transparent.

4) Yes — educators should have their own laptop and should never use district equipment for personal use. It doesn’t matter how any of us feel about the blurring between work and personal life — the districts feel very protective of their equipment and I know people who have lost their jobs over sending the wrong email out to other people. Just don’t do it.

Now for a little background on the Chronicle’s article. I am not going to go into a great detail on all of the events of the past week — you can read it all for yourself — and draw your own conclusions — on the Chronicle’s website (in their news articles and in the posts and comments on their education blog School Zone.) You’ll want to search for the articles and blog posts related to HISD and the Teacher Bonuses. Needless to say, there was quite a “vent fest” on the School Zone blog last week — and in some instances the venting turned very ugly. I can’t say for certain, but I do suspect that the magnitude of the responses on the blog post (over 400 comments on one post!) may have led the reporters to explore the concept of educators using blogs to vent their frustrations in an anonymous way.

I strongly agree with Miguel’s thoughts on the Chronicle’s article…

The truth is, there’s a lot to be frustrated about in education, and this article doesn’t mention that. Instead, it focuses on blogging teachers as bad folks or outlaws who have something to hide or just haven’t been caught. There’s no connection to School 2.0, the changing nature of K-16 education, no deeper understanding about how blogs can serve as “professional learning networks.”

Many of us use our blogs as a learning tool. We post our thoughts on a topic — sometimes those thoughts are mere fragments… sometimes they are random… sometimes they border on the edge of being a complete dissertation — and we engage others in dialogue about our thoughts on those topics with the hope that other voices will help us to expand and solidify our own thinking/learning. The act of doing this — putting thoughts out in the open for others to agree or disagree — or hopefully to push — can be scary. But it’s the courage to be so open that allows those of us who blog to grow as learners, educators, and leaders. In doing so, we must, as Margaret J. Wheatley says, be “willing to be disturbed…” (* links to a .pdf file)

Noticing what surprises and disturbs me has been a very useful way to see invisible beliefs. If what you say surprises me, I must have been assuming something else was true. If what you say disturbs me, I must believe something contrary to you. My shock at your position exposes my own position. When I hear myself saying, “How could anyone believe something like that?” a light comes on for me to see my own beliefs. These moments are great gifts…

I hope you’ll begin a conversation, listening for what’s new. Listen as best you can for what’s different, for what surprises you….

We have the opportunity many times a day, everyday, to be the one who listens to others, curious rather than certain. But the greatest benefit of all is that listening moves us closer. When we listen with less judgement, we always develop better relationships with each other. It’s not the differences that divide us. It’s our judgments about each other that do. Curiosity and good listening bring us back together.

Sometimes we hesitate to listen for differences because we don’t want to change. We’re comfortable with our lives, and if we listened to anyone who raised question, we’d have to get engaged in changing things. If we don’t listen, things can stay as they are and we won’t have to expend any energy…. We have to listen more, not less. And we have to be willing to move into the very uncomfortable place of uncertainty….

We can’t be creative if we refuse to be confused. Change always starts with confusion; cherished interpretations must dissolve to make way for the new. Of course, it’s scary to give up what we know, but the abyss is where newness lives. Great ideas and inventions miraculously appear in the space of not knowing…

Last week at my monthly Leadership Academy meeting we read an article titled “When Leadership Spells Danger” by Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky. One of the recommendations that they give in the article — to avoid the dangers of leadership — is to keep the opposition close… by which, I believe they mean the same thing that Wheatly states — we NEED to listen to the dissenting voices:

Keeping your opposition close also connects you with your diagnostic job. The people whose perspectives you most need to understand are those most upset by your agenda. The opposition has more to lose, and therefore they deserve more attention.

I would hope that districts would take this stance with educators who choose to blog — instead of reprimanding them or trying to prevent them from blogging — they would welcome the blogging as a way to understand what teachers are thinking and feeling. Instead of telling teachers not to blog about their frustrations – how about asking teachers to blog as problem solvers? — how about asking teachers to use their blogging as a way to explore positive alternatives with other educators?

As for the issue of blogging about students — my opinion is that unless you have something wonderful to say AND you have a signed press release from mom and dad — don’t do it! But — that’s just my opinion and you might just disagree with me. That’s okay — I’m willing to be disturbed.

Having said all of that… I do hope that any of my supervisors who are aware of or may become aware of my blog will view it as a positive tool for my professional learning. Which brings me back to “why I blog the way I blog”…

When I started blogging last year, I weighed the options of blogging anonymously vs. blogging as myself. I carefully considered why I wanted to start blogging and decided that blogging as myself was the best way to promote openness, honesty, and authenticity. Did I worry that someone from HISD would see my blog and that I might get into trouble for writing? Honestly? No. I didn’t worry about that because I knew that my strategy would be to blog as a positive problem-solver — I have no interest in writing post-after-post full of BMWs (venting). I believe in putting as much positive energy out into the universe as possible — and filling the blogosphere with negativity would counteract my intentions.

I also tend to write very little about the day-to-day events at work — I tend to focus more on the lessons learned from cumulative work and learning experiences. Hopefully this is working!

Finally, as I stated in my comments to Miguel’s post, I do believe that rather than cracking down on education bloggers, districts should begin to leverage the skills and knowledge of those early-adopters to promote a model of professional learning and collaboration. Districts do need to learn to be more transparent — and district administrators do need to listen to those “dissenting voices” (be willing to be disturbed).

…Be willing to be disturbed… listen more, not less… listen to the dissenting voices… and BE the change…

Your thoughts?