Random thoughts of an ed admin lifer

One of the things that I enjoy most about being an administrator is the regular professional dialogue that I am able to have with other educators.  Typically these conversations are impromptu interactions that spring up in the hall or staff room and sometimes they are more formal in nature and evolve because I have introduced a concept during a staff meeting.  Each situation has its own drawbacks.  Often after an enlightening dialogue with a colleague I am left wishing that others could have benefited from being a part of the conversation.  When discussing a topic at a staff meeting, not everyone is willing to engage.  Sometimes the conversation can be dominated by one or two individuals and others are reluctant to express a contrary opinion for fear of rocking the boat or taking up too much time in the agenda. 

Enter the blog! This is a great place to have a professional dialogue because it allows everyone to weigh in.  They needn’t be present at the moment of the conversation.  They can chew on the idea and formulate a response without feeling as though they are on the spot.  People from the far reaching corners of the blogosphere can chime in and offer their unique perspectives.

I’ve tried to Promote Professional Digital Dialogue (P2D2 J) with our staff in a number of ways.  I began by introducing ideas in our weekly “Monday Memo” and inviting people to respond to my blog.  This met with limited success.  Interestingly enough, some staff members feelt too self conscious to write responses – fear of ridicule, I suppose.  I can relate to the self conscious feelings as I am frequently compelled to re-phrase ideas in a way that I hope will not offend, but also promote introspection.  I made another attempt by copying an article and distributing it to the staff prior to one of our PLC days.  I then discuss the article with their group and post a summary of their poignant points on my blog. . . . again – limited success.

So, next school year, I am going to keep at it and try to further develop the digital dialogue on staff.  I would really like to help people get out of the mind set that blogging is too time consuming (in fact, some scuttlebutt about the staffroom criticized those who had made posts for not having enough important things to do!)  I cannot think of a better way to facilitate imbedded professional development than through a reflective practitioner model.  Just think of the professional learning and ensuing dialogue that could take place if every staff member took 15 minutes or so a week to think deeply about an issue and then added their own perspective to a post pertinent to our profession!