Blogging from the Classroom, Teachers Seek Influence, Risk Trouble

7 Step System to Pass the TOEFL iBT

Teachers and students alike should be careful what they and how they say it, especially in this politically correct society in which we now live.

For teachers and students interested in TOEFL, check out this site:

http://www.bettertoeflscores.com Get 1-1 tutorials with TOEFL speaking and writing specialists, Full and Mini TOEFL iBT Practice Tests scored by qualified TOEFL specialists (including speaking and writing feedback), rich interactive videos in reading, listening, speaking, and writing, including additional vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar skill areas. And many of these lessons are free!

TOEFL

Here is a useful site for teachers and student interested in preparation for TOEFL:

http://i-courses.org/

Nice site

Nice article

blogging for teachers

blogging is very important for teachers these days , they can express their views and students follow their teachers favourite blogs .

www.find-guru.com

Teaching

Without blogging class start. In this way we feel very difficulty to understand the subject. blogging is useful for teaching.

Teachers Turn to Blogging

The blog in your article states that Regnef High's mostly black students are "criminals". If you write "Regnef" backwards you get "Fenger". There is a Fenger High on Chicago's south side. Coincidence?

George Bruce Buckley

Lemont, IL

Blogging

Now that I am a retired substitute, I'm finally feeling energetic enough to blog. I like the feeling of being on the outside looking in, with the background knowledge of an insider.

I blog for myself, but see potential. My goal is to blog regularly through out the year, and look for themes or ideas that I think I'll find after the year is over. I am new to blogging, but not to journaling about my classroom. I like it.

Blogging For All -- Just Not All of What You Think

Teacher blogging is no different than writing a daily column for the local paper. I would advise that educators write what they are comfortable sharing with the community (never mind the world). Writing about personal life is probably not advisable, as hangovers and political opinions tend to get in the way of the daily business of the classroom. A teacher has a persona to maintain, objective and hopefully free of bias, so if what is being posted online prevents a teacher from successfully executing his job, then the blog post is probably not worth it. It grows more complicated when teachers hold union positions, but there again, if the tone and substance of the message is no different than what you would write in a local column or say to your boss at a board or union meeting, then you should stand by your words. If you write to rant because you don't have the courage to speak out elsewhere, there might be consequences. For the voiceless, those who lack the forums, blogging may be the only way to get heard and start changes, so the negative consequences might be well worth it.

Every time I blog, I keep my employers and the students I serve in mind. I do not write for them, but I write knowing that they also have the right to take my posted words into account when deciding whether to listen to me in my day job. Blogging is an individualistic, free-speech endeavor done in order to better connect with a community -- a wonderful paradox. So this discussion doesn't boil down to only one solution, i.e., protect individual rights at all costs versus let the community or employer censor. The solution involves balancing the needs of both. Write wisely and reasonably as possible, stand by what you write, and don't be surprised if someone quotes it back at you.

teachers

G'day from Australia! I came to the state of victoria in 1972 and have been an English teacher here ever since. Originally from Minnesota, I taught in Iowa one year then went on to USD for graduate work. For a brief period in 82-83 I was a substitute teacher in Las Vegas schools.

That was an eye opener -to be back in a fast paced urban school district after several years in a small rural Victorian High School. I Returned to Australia in 84.

Victoria has a state wide school system [education department]. These are "government" schools. There is a ""private school sector"" which includes independent and Catholic schools. All students have to complete 3 hour examinations in their year 12 subjects. the results generate an university/tertiary entrance score. Based on what I've read about the USA schools, and the pressures they face over mandated testing and benchmarks for federal funding i shudder. Congratulations to all the teachers who soldier on week by week.

martin

A comment is not an essay

Why do we have to correct Big Will's paper? Did you stop to think that maybe Will is not a teacher? Is Will to be deemed inferior, and not worthy of expressing his opinion unless he conforms to The Elements of Style? Oh, chastise me because I didn't underline my book title. Lighten up. Oops! That was a fragment, and it ended with a preposition. Obviously, nobody will continue reading my worthless comment.

I blog to relieve stress. I do not have a desire to set the teaching world on fire with my 17 years of experience in rural public schools. That would be work. Blogging is for AFTER work. My blog is a tale of life in the trenches. Some posts are funny, some are sad, some are hard to believe. Not all posts are about teaching. My blog is for myself, and if others get a laugh or learn something, that's a bonus.

Any teacher with common sense knows not to put names in the blog, or ridicule students, or criticize the administration or fellow faculty members.

When you read a teacher's blog, you can tell if the teacher is one who chose the career because he likes kids and wants to teach them, or if the teacher wants to show the world that he's a great teacher. It's the same when you go to workshops and talk to other teachers. The motive is clear. One of my teaching buddies calls the latter MASTER TEACHERS. They are so busy telling everybody how great they are that they lose sight of the students.

Teachers should be allowed to have blogs as long as they don't use them as platforms of destruction. Teachers have First Amendment rights the same as any other citizens.