It was a depressing experience. I was faced with an overwhelming number of Tweets, most of them filled with frustration and unhappiness. I haven’t made any attempt at a formal analysis, but I have [...]]]> As an educator, when I saw that #ReasonsWhyIHateSchool was trending on Twitter, I clicked through to see what was being said.

It was a depressing experience. I was faced with an overwhelming number of Tweets, most of them filled with frustration and unhappiness. I haven’t made any attempt at a formal analysis, but I have picked out some that seem typical.

There were quite a few who wanted school to be like the movies:

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool: It’s not Hogwarts.

— The Dark Lord (@Lord_Voldemort7) January 7, 2012

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool Because Its Not Like Zoey 101, High School Musical, Napoleon Dynamite, Fame, Bring It On, Or Ferris Bueller.

— Princєtons Swαg Tho. (@Princeton_Diggy) January 7, 2012

Actually, I’d like school to be like the movies, where the hard-working teacher wins over the hearts and minds of all their students, so that by the final scene even the most disaffected have achieved amazing things. Who wouldn’t want that?

I wasn’t surprised to see criticism about the behaviour and attitudes of teachers, but I was taken aback but some of the comments:

#reasonswhyihateschool : teachers who clearly chose favorites ;

— ☑VERIFIED SiiRPaul (@SiiRPaul) January 7, 2012

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool The teachers loose our work and blame it on us ,

— ♥01/01/2012 M.W (@2jayDoriginal) January 7, 2012

#reasonswhyihateschool Teachers that hold grudges and try to make you fail

— Jerome Banks (@CaughtHerEye) January 7, 2012

It wasn’t just teachers though:

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool because everyone judges you no matter what you do. you’re not good enough for anyone there.

— Selena Gomez▲ (@heckyesjaybee) January 7, 2012

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool it’s a non stop status competition. Long live the nerds!!!!

— kye sones (@KyeDIAGRAM) January 7, 2012

#reasonswhyihateschool the 45min bus journey with screaming idiotsthat announce their life story every single day

— Aylin Akineden (@Its_Ayleen) January 7, 2012

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool…I’m surrounded by immaturity, stupidity, & people who are going no where in life…& I can’t do anything about it.

— Jessica Kolcheff (@JessicaKolcheff) January 7, 2012

Getting up too early in the morning was a frequent complaint – which won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has worked with teenagers. I’m convinced that a later start to the day would benefit many of my students, especially in Y9, 10 and 11:

#reasonswhyihateschool I have to get up before the sun does -_-

— Peter Francis Geraci (@FollowDeez__) January 7, 2012

#reasonswhyihateschool who want’s to wake up that early and do something they don’t like

— LIFE PROBLEMS (@weEKendproblms) January 7, 2012

Boredom was mentioned so often I’m surprised that wasn’t trending too:

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool I get so bored so I begin to laugh at everything, and eventually cry from laughter or for no reason at all.

— Savannah Wolfgram (@SWolfgram) January 7, 2012

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool Some classes are long and boring.

— Jasmine (الياسمين) (@Poohbear1030) January 7, 2012

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool nothing interesting ever happens

— Khalie R. (@Khalieeaaaye) January 7, 2012

One word said it all on this topic:

#reasonswhyihateschool Homework.

— King James Or Die. (@xox_Asfiya786) January 7, 2012

No surprises there!

The thing that left me feeling the most frustrated of all was the number of Tweets expressing the pointlessness of it all – especially in my subject:

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool because 90% of the things we learn we won’t use in the real world #pointless

— Cami ∞ (@AuthenticCami) January 7, 2012

Most of the higher staff are only concerned with grades, not actually teaching valuable skills and information. #ReasonsWhyIHateSchool

— Matt Ashmore (@FallenNocturne) January 7, 2012

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool i will never use -0.2x^2 + 12x + 11 in real life

— kj.(@0beyK) January 7, 2012

I don’t think many teachers would be surprised by any of these complaints, but the sheer number and vehement negativity of the comments staggered me. It’s inevitable that a hashtag called #ReasonsWhyIHateSchool will expose negative attitudes, but there were almost no dissenting voices. I find that very sad.

I’m just going to share one final Tweet, the one that stopped me in my tracks:

#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool it kills the relationship between my parents and I…

— Eric Nguyen (@OhLetDoItNguyen) January 7, 2012

Wow.

I’m left thinking about my own classes. I wonder to what extent this stream of Tweets reflects the feelings of my own students? Obviously I’d like them to be happy at school, but I wonder if they really are.

Jim Docherty, assistant secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, told BBC Scotland that teachers should follow his advice: "First thing is don’t bother telling anybody else about your social life. Nobody is interested about your social life and it doesn’t help.

"Secondly, never make any comment about your work, about your employer, [...]]]>  

Jim Docherty, assistant secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, told BBC Scotland that teachers should follow his advice: "First thing is don’t bother telling anybody else about your social life. Nobody is interested about your social life and it doesn’t help.

"Secondly, never make any comment about your work, about your employer, about teaching issues in general.

"There is always a possibility it will be misinterpreted."

from ‘Teachers warned over Facebook and Twitter use’ on bbc.co.uk

Earlier today I read Jim Docherty’s advice to teachers, warning us not to discuss either our personal lives or professional issues online. I have no doubt that Jim Docherty offered this advice with the best of intentions, we have seen some horror stories about the misuse of social media. No one would suggest that it is ever acceptable for students to be the subject of derogatory comments, neither would anyone suggest that it is ever acceptable for teachers to be harassed.

I have no doubt that as assistant secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, Jim Docherty has teachers’ best interests at heart.

Unfortunately his advice is misguided and I hope most sincerely that no-one takes it seriously.

Facebook and Twitter are simply channels via which real people communicate. I accept that online communication is not the same as face to face communication, but the same is true of other publicly visible media – are we also expected to stop publishing comments about teaching issues in the TES or in academic journals, lest we run the risk of being misinterpreted?

Social media are not inherently dangerous, but they do provide teachers with opportunities for high quality professional development that simply do not exist elsewhere. How else could I connect with inspiring and innovative educators like Tom Barrett or Dan Meyer or Simon Job? How else would groups of educators collaborate effectively to organise and deliver high quality, free professional development? How else can I share resources and ideas with teachers from around the world? How else can a network of teachers from across the UK ‘meet’ to debate current issues and share good practice – and do so for free?

Whenever I drop into my digital world, there are teachers online discussing, debating and sharing. The fact that thousands of teachers are writing considered, reflective blog posts or Tweeting about education rarely seems to get mentioned in the media. I don’t expect to see ‘Teacher gets brilliant idea for teaching stem and leaf diagrams from colleague 100s of miles away’  hitting the headlines any day soon.

I cannot see any valid reason for suggesting that educators should avoid engaging in professional dialogue, but what about the personal stuff? Jim Docherty stated that “Nobody is interested about your social life”. Is that true? As educators, should we confine our blogging and tweeting to educational matters only?

When I meet up with colleagues face to face, we don’t restrict our casual conversations to professional matters. Chat about holidays, families or our social lives is normal human behaviour. It builds personal relationships and is part of what bonds us together as a team. Why should my relationships with colleagues in the digital world be subject to different rules or conventions to those in the analogue world? Of course I’m interested in what colleagues from my online network do outside of the classroom. We are using a digital medium, but we are people, not automata.

I don’t believe that guidelines about acceptable use of social media are necessary. Do we really need guidelines to tell us not to call our students rude names? Do we really need guidelines to explain what we should or should not say in front of students or parents? Would guidelines actually have any effect on the individuals who have engaged in unprofessional behaviour? Somehow I doubt it.

If individual teachers behave in a way that brings our profession into disrepute then that needs to be addressed on a case by case basis. Unprofessional behaviour exhibited by a minority of educators should not be used as some kind of justification for an attempt to ban the entire profession from using the social web appropriately. Administering a group punishment for offences committed by individuals is never acceptable.

As a professional teacher I expect to be able to participate in debate and discussion about teaching issues, whether it’s considering the purpose of education, discussing an ethos for teaching my subject or sharing ideas and resources.

As a professional teacher I don’t intend to stand idly by whilst well-intentioned people suggest that our profession should abide by a voluntary gagging order.

As a professional teacher I am angered and disappointed by Jim Docherty’s comments and I urge him to withdraw them.

I’ve been hiding some Easter Eggs. No, not real ones, not even the chocolate variety. I’m talking about the type of Easter Eggs that you find lurking on websites, DVDs or in games. Or [...]]]> I have lots to do, but it’s the school holidays, so I’m feeling no guilt about doing something fun instead.

I’ve been hiding some Easter Eggs. No, not real ones, not even the chocolate variety. I’m talking about the type of Easter Eggs that you find lurking on websites, DVDs or in games. Or on my site for my students, MoreThanMaths.com

There is a purpose to this. When I made my first student website, I filled it with things that I thought were interesting, then sat back and waited for students to explore it. Some did. Most didn’t. So I decided to come up with ways to persuade them to look around, such as the Easter Egg Hunt – and a Christmas present hunt, which operated in much the same way, but with pictures of Christmas presents.

Later I hit on the idea of hiding Easter Eggs, such as the not very cunningly concealed bad joke page, which was surprisingly popular given the awfulness of the jokes.

If the site content is good, students will use it, but getting over that first hurdle of hooking their interest and getting them to explore was harder than I expected.

Anyway, I’ve transferred the bad joke page over to the new site. I should probably find some new jokes though. Preferable some that are actually funny.

I’ve also been having fun creating and hiding one or two other bits and pieces.

I wonder how long it will take for someone to find them?

Photo: Easter Egg Hunt by Leigh Jay Hicks on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons Licence.

Askimet is doing a fairly amazing job of filtering out the vast quantities of [...]]]>

For a long time I’ve moderated comments on this blog. I’d prefer not to really.  I’ve never used comment moderation on my personal blog, which used to be anonymous (hence the difference) and I’ve never had any real problems.

Askimet is doing a fairly amazing job of filtering out the vast quantities of SPAM, so I’m going to give it a try without moderation.

Let’s see how it goes. Hopefully I will not be inundated with luncheon meat…

I don’t know why I associate puzzles with Christmas. Maybe it’s childhood memories of tiny plastic tangrams from the insides of crackers, maybe it’s because I’ve been lucky enough to receive lots of puzzle books as gifts over the years. Anyway, [...]]]> Whatever form your festivities may take, I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

I don’t know why I associate puzzles with Christmas. Maybe it’s childhood memories of tiny plastic tangrams from the insides of crackers, maybe it’s because I’ve been lucky enough to receive lots of puzzle books as gifts over the years. Anyway, here’s one of my favourites, hope you like it.

I enjoyed using WordPress.com – and I fully intend to continue to do so – but I always intended to use self-hosted WordPress for this blog. It just opens up so many more options. Since my old web host couldn’t seem [...]]]> If you are reading this – then welcome to my blog’s new home!

I enjoyed using WordPress.com – and I fully intend to continue to do so – but I always intended to use self-hosted WordPress for this blog. It just opens up so many more options. Since my old web host couldn’t seem to provide the necessary support for me to run an up to date release of WordPress, that presented a bit of a challenge. So I’ve moved: firstly to a new web hosting provider, then to a self-hosted blog.

Unfortunately I couldn’t automatically redirect any readers from my old place at WordPress.com. So if you’ve followed the trail of breadcrumbs and made it here – thanks for making the effort!

For me, Twitter is about conversation. Retweets are part of that – and something that I’m [...]]]> Twitter means different things to different people, I have no problem with that. This is not going to be one of those ‘You Just Don’t Get It Do You? 10 Ways You’re Tweeting It Wrong’ type of posts.

For me, Twitter is about conversation. Retweets are part of that – and something that I’m a big fan of, so it was good to see them finally appear at Twitter.com. However, I don’t use the web-based version of Twitter much, so I didn’t play around with the new retweet function until last week. Sadly, I soon learned that whilst Twitter’s version of retweeting may fit their business model, it doesn’t work for me.

In an offline conversation, if I repeat something interesting that I’ve been told, I don’t necessarily do it verbatim, I’m able to add my own comments if I want to. If I retweet via a Twitter client (such as Tweetdeck) I can do that online too, but I quickly discovered that Twitter’s own retweet function is exactly that – a verbatim retweet. There’s no opportunity to add anything. That’s not facilitating a conversation, so personally I’m not interested.

I just hope that as Twitter develops their new retweet function, they don’t end up affecting the ability of the rest of us to RT in whatever fashion we choose.

Once upon a time, in a land known as South Yorkshire, there was a maths teacher who was surfing around the t’Internet. This was back in the days when most web pages were still made from Sellotape, old records and sticky-backed plastic, which might explain why I was so amazed to find [...]]]>

Once upon a time, in a land known as South Yorkshire, there was a maths teacher who was surfing around the t’Internet. This was back in the days when most web pages were still made from Sellotape, old records and sticky-backed plastic, which might explain why I was so amazed to find Mr Titen’s More Than Math page.

A webpage, made by a math(s) teacher, full of puzzles and homework hints. I was impressed. I wanted one. Now let’s be honest here, GeoCities web pages were all a bit eye-watering to look at and I have to say that Mr Titen’s was no exception. Frankly I wasn’t keen on the dancing teddy bears, but it still left me feeling inspired.

The result: Ms Lindemann’s Mathemagic Page was born. It looked not dissimilar to my current site, which was supposed to be an elegant lilac, reflecting the hastily polled opinions of some of my students. Sadly, a miscalculation with a rather ancient monitor resulted in a vista of pink, a colour scheme which remains to this day. (Yes, it is long overdue for an overhaul and redesign, but that’s another story entirely.) The earliest versions of my own site owed a lot to Mr Titen’s More Than Math Page; we may have had different ideas about how our sites should look, but I loved all his puzzles and optical illusions – ideas which still provide the basis for some of my own site’s most popular sections today.

My fledgling site lurked quietly inside my school’s website for a while (alas, its earliest incarnations have been lost, but perhaps that’s for the best). Of course, I really wanted to find my own little home on the web, but that caused me a bit of a problem: every permutation of mathemagic-dot-anything had already been snapped up. I agonised for ages, but I just couldn’t come up with anything else that wasn’t already taken, so I ended up adopting More Than Maths. It’s not plagiarism you know, it’s an homage – honestly!

I still popped back to visit Mr Titen from time to time, although his site has been very quiet for quite a few years now. So it feels a bit sad to know that this is it, GeoCities is no more. Mr Titen’s More Than Math Page has been consigned to history (and the Internet Archive).

Goodbye Mr Titen. Goodbye.