Bubble Bursted – Week 4
I am not going to lie… this will be a difficult reflection. What can I say? Twitter Troll. I know… it’s not a very nice thing to say. Some would consider me a Twitter Troll at times. I get it. Passion gets in the way of reason. I respect a person’s desire to “fix,” inform, or persuade people on social media but there’s a moment when you just have to let go. It was self-regulation at it’s finest. For me, I had to block this person.
Before class started… I was catching up on some with with my Saint Mark’s College students. I was so inspired with their work that I left Starbucks on campus towards my Educ 471 class at SFU with a skip and jump in my stride. Here’s some irony… today’s theme was STRENGTH BASED LEARNING (SBL). Today could have been a better day. I tweeted out during the break a few photos of our small group discussions (aka. to celebrate student learning). Apparently, my tweet provoked someone online who insisted I provide empirical evidence for SBL.
Well… I didn’t and tried to clarify few times the intent of the tweet. Nonetheless, no satisfaction by this Twitter renegade and she persisted. I called it quits but I continued to receive multiple tweets after class and through the night. This person also tagged my employers and recruited another researcher to fight a good fight. I was not responding. Then, I was accused of shaming, avoiding, and bullying. By 2 am, I blocked both of them. My energy and spirit was completely depleted.
As mentioned, I get it. I’ve been blocked too. Forget about SBL and let’s think about EMBEDDING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT (Dylan Wiliam, 2011). This person wants citations. For me, my number one concern is STUDENT LEARNING. When I receive tweets like that, make it a learning opportunity. I can see how students feel when the teacher tells them they’re wrong over and over again. You don’t want to take a risk to be wrong again. I got that sense from the twitter convo. I get it… I’m wrong.
The Twitter Troll tried to supplement their point of view with links to blogs and articles. They too were of opinion. What’s the empirical evidence that says otherwise? What is the measurable craze in education? This is the inquiry. What I care about is, does it provoke people to think about what they do. It’s metacognition. My education course is not a content-dump onto students. We are thinking. We are communicating. We are making personal and social connections. #bccurric #corecompetencies
So, I apologize to my students… I was not my best self during the second half of our class. I want to thank my students for reaffirming to me that they understand what I am trying to achieve with them in class in the context of curriculum development. I am thankful to SFU and Saint Mark’s College for their patience, kindness, and willingness to take a chance. And, I am thankful to my daughter and edu-buddy for keeping me in check and saying, “it only matters if you make it matter.”