Readership

So it seems readership of this blog has increased the past few days. Through technological magic, I'm able to track who reads via my AIM account. That tipped me off that at least one student at Ridge discovered that screen name (I changed about a year ago b/c of a handful of students finding out my old sn). Tonight I received a comment on an old blog from another former student.

I've done some thinking on the subject. I've been very careful not to respond to any students that have attempted to contact me since September and there have been a few through e-mail. MySpace, etc. At the same time, I don't think there's any reason why I should discontinue using this blog.

To any students reading this - there's obviously no way for me to stop you without removing it altogether. If you choose to comment on blog entries, I will not block them as long as they are appropriate and well-intentioned. I spent most of my first three years at Ridge keeping my personal life private to some degree. It was important to separate myself from my students, especially when I was a 22-year-old first year teacher. I continue to believe strongly that my political beliefs have no place in my classroom because it is essential that high school students develop their own ideas and viewpoints and don't adopt one simply because they think it will help them do well on a test or in a class discussion.

Over the past 3+ months I have had plenty of time to reflect. I don't miss writing lesson plans, dealing with students upset about a 96% or grading five page essays. I miss the personal connections that developed with students, especially those on the newspaper staff and in the marching band. If students reading this blog turn into random kids commenting on it to me that I don't have any relationship with or it's used in a negative way, I'll be forced to take it down or move it elsewhere where I can better control who views it. The two students I know have been on here are from the newspaper staff and academic classes and I respect them highly. I don't think there will be a problem so long as those are the types of students we're talking about.