Living the Philosophy
Now that I’m a little less busy (only a little… I really wish these folks who know nothing about education would so get over the idea that we “vacation” for 3 months of the year, yeah, right!), I’m starting to try to get back into the groove of posting to my Twitter, my blog, etc. I’ll admit, being friends for @soul4real can be a little intimidating. According to a tweet by either @cogdog or @nooccar she is in the top five tweeters in the Phoenix metro area. And let me tell you, this woman is productive, both personally and professionally. Although I feel like I’m pretty dang productive, I feel shamed in comparison.
... what seems like a random transition ...
So as I’m getting ready to go off to the 2008 Computers & Writing conference, I’m asking for bios from the panelists of a session I’m moderating. One of the panelists is talking about Open Source as a philosophy that we have to model within our lives. Thinking about this panel, along with the emphasis on “transparency” we’ve had at Mesa CC this past year, it’s made me realize the how and why I’m not “super-tweeter” like @soul4real ... FEAR!
This past year in discussions with various faculty members I’ve stressed the point that if we were open and transparent about our teaching, it would mean we would have to always acknowledge it as a process, and as such there are good and bad days, revisions, etc. Obviously we know this is the same with life; however, with tools like Twitter (and in this instance I’m referring to it as a micro-blogging tool, I know others disagree) there is the possibility of being open and transparent about everything we do! But do I want to share all of my fears, frustrations, and breakdowns as well as the victories and excitements? Or, can we strike a balance?
As I write this I begin to realize that like any other blog, Twitter can function as a focused output tool. Heck, @befitt used Twitter in one of her classes with very specific goals and purposes. Maybe the balance is deciding on a focus for when I’ll specifically make sure to be tweeting? Ultimately, I do believe we do need to live our philosophy, or walk the talk; however, I also do think we have some rights to privacy (or just plain having a bad day).
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Commentary
rrodrigo, i am grateful for your commentary on the “little intimidated” by soul4real because i’ll be honest we sit in meetings or presentations and my mind is whirling trying to catch up! so thanks for the validation in the intimidation factor. i admit that i’ve pondered this concept of privacy and well..tmi for some time when cogdog was still in district i tried blogging for work and failed miserably - i tried three different times - but once i became a mom i have been a fervent blogger about that so i seem to struggle about the opposite - i can blog personally but not professionally - its messing me up! so i twit sporadically because i can’t figure it out - the lines are blurring!
Thanks for the post, Shelley. Over the past year, I too, have considered what to post (or not) on Twitter. For one, I have two accounts on Twitter - @befitt for my personal life and times, @healthybee for my classroom use with students. The interesting thing is when students accidentally (or intentionally) end up following your personal twitter profile, as well. So the question of transparency is brought up once again. How much should one disclose? (Would love to hear @soul4real’s thoughts on this!)