creating community and revitalizing practice: reflective teacher blogging

Creating Community and Revitalizing Practice

Jeffrey Mattison, La Paz Middle School, Salinas, California

Jennifer Uhler, Georgetown University, Washington, DC

44th Annual TESOL Convention, Boston, Massachusetts

27 March 2010

Self-Introductions

Blogging as Reflective Practice

Outcomes and Pitfalls

Future Outlook

Questions & Answers

Background

Educational Settings� California, Japan,

Jamaica, and Russia

Highlights & Challenges

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Community

Professional Development

IEP

Community

Collaboration

Teacher Connections, Global Reflections

http://teachingwithoutborders.blogspot.com

� Belief in the utility of reflective practice

� Desire for professional development

� Outlet for teacher talk

� Digital experimentation and innovation

Bartlett-Bragg, 2003

4/15/07 - In this blog you can expect to read three posts a week, one from each of us,

with reflections from our classroom or institution activities. We'll ask questions of

ourselves, each other, and our readers to build some dialogue. Please leave

comments to create a conversation!

How did you get started?� Invitation (March 2007)

� Title negotiation

� Blog hosting site

� Reflective entry format

� Tags

� Frequency of posting

� Public

7/6/07 - Thanks to this blog as an outlet for my thoughts!

What features were evident in the initial

blogging stages?� Enthusiasm

� Structured questions from writer

� Conscientious responses from co-bloggers

� Growing awareness of cyber audience

5/12/07 - I'm glad I have this blog as some purpose and

outlet to look at my work through a TESOL lens.

How did your awareness of the reflective process grow

through blogging?

� Extracting meaning for further evaluation

� Future learning from past experiences

� Frequency of posts

� Expression of emotion

� Writing for ourselves

� Emerging trends

2/12/08 - I hope that by writing this blog I’ll be able to

get some ideas from readers…

How were your voices as individuals displayed

in your writing?

� Self-directed writing� Writing styles

� External sources and references

� Learning conversations

Unknown to Others

Known to Others

Known to Self Unknown to Self

Luft and Ingram, 1969

9/30/09 - This blog has helped me to discover or reveal features of my teaching that no observer or video camera could reveal.

How do you think your blog provides guidance

to readers?� Shared experience – you are not alone

� Model of reflective teaching

� Informed, sympathetic, authentic

professional dialog

� Learning opportunities

March 23, 2007 – January 1, 2010

� 100 posts: Jenn (49); Jeff (45); Others (6)

� Averages:

2007 43 posts

2008 27 posts

2009 30 posts� Comments

� Visitor Traffic: 5,377 hits

1. Classroom Management/Behavior

(28+18=46)2. Motivation, Frustration, Burnout

(19+5+6=30)

3. Planning, Curriculum Design (12+5=17)

4. American Culture (12)

5. Flexibility/Adaptability (6+5=11) 6. Environment, Community (6+4=10)

7. Time Management (7)

� TAPoR Corpus Analysis http://portal.tapor.ca

� Analyze keywords in context

� Eg. “awareness” occurs 14 times

� Web Traffic

http://www.sitemeter.com� 8,275 page views

� Visits fall precipitously after privatization



� Self-review & awareness raising

Jeff - Thanks to this blog, now I’m aware of it.

� Cyclical reflectionJenn - Even though Jeff and I share a commitment to reflection through this blog and I

believe wholeheartedly in systematic, purposeful reflection as a useful tool shaping my

teaching, I sometimes question whether it is a part of everyone's regular practice.

� Advantages of digital mediumJenn - This blog is an excellent outlet for professional conversation and support. It is perhaps one of

the best ways that I can let loose about the lingering questions that I have about my teaching.

� CollegialityJenn - I apologize for neglecting this blog and the collegiality that I find here.

� Active developmentJenn - I believe deeply in the importance of continuing professional development

(probably one of the reasons I am participating in this blog!)

� The world is too small: Public vs. PrivateJeff & Jenn - We removed public access in June 2009.

� Widely different contextsJenn - How do you deal (obviously in a very different context) with hostile

students?

� Over-magnification of insecuritiesJeff - Perhaps these are my own insecurities as a teacher that I'm voicing.

� Attrition, participationHisako - Unfortunately, for personal reasons, I am very sorry to announce that

I won’t be able to continue participating in the regular postings.

� Time Jeff - I apologize for the two weeks of quiet on this blog.� Changing foci and reflective outletsJeff - I realize that going on my third year with this blog, I have regressed

further and further into classroom management and self management.

� Teaching without Borders 3.0?

� Some considerations

What reflective practice has been most

meaningful to you as a TESOL professional?

How do you think technology could enhance that reflection?

� Bartlett-Bragg, A. (2003). Blogging to learn.

The Knowledge Tree: An e-Journal of Flexible Learning in VET, Edition 4. Retrieved from

http://knowledgetree.flexiblelearning.net.au/

edition04/pdf/Blogging_to_Learn.pdf

� For a full list of our Reflective Teaching and

Blogging references, please email us!

Jeffrey Mattison

[email protected]

Jennifer Uhler

[email protected]

*For more details on the technical side of how to set up a reflective teaching blog, please

email us!