June 27, 2010
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The More Things Change…
The Xanga frontpage lists featured posts. “Featured Content” dates back to the earliest days of Xanga, but I really have to shake my head at some of the “content” linked there presently. I think they may have hit their nadir by featuring some guy’s very first post… which he didn’t even write; it’s just the automatically-created, generic first post. I can only guess that he must have many friends who recommended said post and pushed it up the featured list. It’s kind of hard to take a “Featured” list seriously if this is what’s featured. But it just goes to show you that not much has changed; Xangans then and now are concerned with being popular– the majority of them anyway.
On a related note, I’m trying to finish this grad class and the next-to-last assignment was an essay on an ethical dilemma in education. I chose to write about whether teachers should censor themselves online; where is the line between professional responsibility and the right to personal expression? I didn’t think it was very good, but my instructor called it “outstanding” and wants to keep a copy on file as a model for future students. Maybe I should write the “not my best work” disclaimer every time I submit.
Over the next three days I’m attending the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference which just happens to be hosted here in Denver this year. Some of these techie-teachers kind of scare me. They toss around jargon that quickly confuses outsiders or newbies. And they love Twitter. I do have a Twitter account, but hardly use it. It’s the one Web thing that I have never been able to just pick up and figure out right away; I don’t understand what all the @ and # are for. I need Twitter for Dummies. But, I’m sure I will learn a lot… which I won’t be able to apply since it’ll be a decade before we have sufficient technology in my school to do so. I shouldn’t be so negative; we did get a lot of classroom tech last year– every teacher has a laptop, every room a digital projector, and several of us have document cameras (like me) or Smartboards, or both. I asked for the document camera last year instead of the Smartboard because it was one-third the cost of the Smartboard and I understood we were in a budget crunch and even though these requests went to the PTA, I thought it was pretentious to ask for such a big-ticket item under such a financial atmosphere. Apparently, that didn’t stop some of my colleagues– and the PTA bought their Smartboards. I guess I learned a lesson; put principle aside when you can ask someone else to buy stuff for you.
Hard to believe June is almost over. Enjoy these last few days.
Comments (4)
forget about it not being your best work, if the guy who knows says it’s outstanding; IT’S OUTSTANDING. accept the praise with good grace – and THEN rock their socks off by showing ‘em your BEST.=)
you’re lucky you guys have access to so much technology. as we all know I good teacher can teach with no more than a bit of dirt to scratch symbols in, but my goodness does technology help make it easier!!!!
It just goes to show you my love that even your professor feels that you have a great talent for writing. You are your own worst critic!
I’ve been telling you this for years, but I’m glad that others see it as well. 
Btw, I can’t wait for June to end only because it will mean a few days alone with you!! I can’t think of a better way to celebrate turning 35.
I never read featured content, even back in the old days of Xanga… unless it happened to concern someone I was subbed to and then I read it because I was subbed to them not because it was featured content. I don’t care about popularity… here, there or otherwise.
I love Twitter. I’m on there all the time. It’s given me access to people I wouldn’t normally be able to access, which has been beneficial to me.
You’re kidding? Someone’s “Welcome to Xanga” post was on featured content?! Boy, I knew there was a reason I’m mostly on Facebook these days
I would never be surprised to see anything you’d written classified as outstanding – the contrary, in fact.