Fear to Communicate with the Community

Teach Thought 30 Day Blogging Challenge ~ Day 23 ~ What is a way that I meaningfully involve the community in the learning in my classroom

Blogging

I used to have a blog dedicated solely to my students, called “Stuart’s Spectacular Students”.

Each year people from all over the world got to follow the learning and growth of my students from day-to-day, and they loved it!

I still have the blog but for the past 7 years haven’t added much to it because I was told I was no longer allowed to post pictures of students for fear of a lawsuit, even though their parents had all signed media releases.

The fear of the fear of the school and school system being sued was the culprit.

"The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear."

~ Gandhi

personalexcellence.co

This was a shame because I had two former students visit me two days ago while I was recuperating from surgery. Luis was in the last grade I was allowed to post pictures (2007-2008). We looked at all the old posts and had a great time looking back at all the adventures we had that year. 

His sister, Patti, who followed him the next year, didn’t have any pictures and I had only written a few blogs, maybe one a month. She and I didn’t have the opportunity to look back at the growth and projects we did her year. 

This was a shame not only for her and I, but for the world community as well.

Good things DO happen in school and real learning DOES take place, and the world NEEDS TO KNOW about this. 

We need to be inspired. We need to hope. We need to believe that students aren’t just shuffled through the school system year after year as if they were being babysat with books, taught to the tests, and mass produced like little factory widgets, wholly unprepared for success in the real world.

And if I work hard to figure out how to make them successful and unstoppable in the real world, then I think it’s time I figure out how to blog about them again no matter the obstacles we face in a fearful society. 

"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment." 

~ Marcus Aurelius