Work With Hope

I have been struggling with this blogpost for a couple of weeks now, my thoughts changing with each changing nuance of the story.

I’m not going to go into detail about the current controversy over changes and re-changes to Facebook’s privacy policy. There are plenty of better and more knowledgeable writers who can do that job for me (my personal favorite is Molly Wood’s “How Facebook Is Putting its Users Last” http://news.cnet.com/molly-rants/?categoryId=9823097&tag=rtcol;tags).

Instead I want to focus on an educator’s reaction to all of this, for as maddening these changes are, they provide a great teachable moment where we can break down the wall and talk to students about social networking frankly and un-sanctimoniously.

I’ve never really liked Facebook. I have a very small network of people I know. I check it a couple of times a day, though I seldom write anything but comments about others’ posts. I don’t play games, participate in polls, or use 70% of the additional features. I have always found Twitter or one of my blogs a better avenue for my thoughts.

I have kept a Facebook page for two reasons. First, I have enjoyed the rare occurrence of connecting with old friends. It is a great pleasure to see an invite from a fondly remembered childhood name, and there is no other site or service that has this kind of power (I do recognize that these powers have a downside…but that’s for another day). Second, as an educator I want to say that I participate in social networking so that my comments and opinions are based on experience and not second-had hysteria.

Which is why I found the Facebook changes so upsetting, I have always told teachers and students that social networking is not in itself good or evil, but a tool. Like all tools, if you know how to use it and if you follow the rules, it can improve your life. If you are negligent, sometimes your finger gets smashed. However, the essence of the Facebook privacy controversy is that they have changed the rules without the consent of the user. If a carpenter is swinging a hammer, and suddenly it becomes a chainsaw, someone is going to get hurt!

I know that several big names in tech journalism (including Leo Laporte, who I have always respected) have deleted their Facebook accounts in protest of these changes. This seems to have an effect, as there have been further updates to these changes by Facebook. With a community the size of Facebook, it does seem that the only way one can make a stand is to step out.

Which leads to my dilemma. I would like to delete my Facebook page. I don’t benefit from it very much, and though I have set my privacy appropriately, this is one of the few way that I can speak out (my one voice among 500 million!) in favor of informing people about how their information is used.

However, if I opt out, I essentially say that there is no safe way to use Facebook. To some extent I lose my voice with the vast community of students and faculty who are not going to quit (whether they should or not) by saying that this tool that you use every day shouldn’t be used. The dissonance between this message and the student’s experience doesn’t ring true.

As I analyze this stance, I recognize that we also tell students not to drink or use drugs, which contradicts the experience of many. However, our job as educators is to teach students how to use the vital tools of communication and socialization. At this point it appears that tools of social networking will play a role in this.

So we need to be in this space with them (not socializing with them, but using the same tools in our own worlds). We need to talk about how to use the tools well, and express frustration when obstacles get in the way. We also need to listen to students about their own experiences, not only to point out their mistakes, but to listen for new ideas that are being generated all around us.

A while ago I was speaking to a teacher who was going through a particularly rough time.  I knew that there was no immediate answers for the issues she faced, but I felt confident that these answers would be presenting themselves soon.  Though I’m never particularly good at small talk,the words came to me and I said to her,

“Work with hope.”

As I continued to talk to people through the day, I was surprised to find how often that phrase was appropriate, teachers facing new (or old) challenges, teachers questioning themselves, teachers trying new things.

“Work with hope.”

In the days that followed it seemed that my new mantra applied to every idea I had and every blog I read.  As twenty-first century teachers living through revolutions of content and technique, the one thing that we can daily bring to everything is hope.

“Work with hope”

…because we don’t always know if we are doing the right thing and sometimes we never find out.

“Work with hope”

…because we are challenged by forces locally and globally over which we have no control.

“Work with hope”

…because sometimes hope is all we have.

My own focus on educational technology has taught me well that certainty is a luxury we can no longer afford.  Preparing students for an unknown future requires bold leaps of faith and confidence that even our missteps are somehow part of the journey.

I became superintendent at a time when Catholic education (and education in general) is facing more challenges than ever before.  However, immense challenges provide a daily opportunity to work with hope.

In the Catholic calendar we are now in the Easter season.  There is no better time to kick off a new blog about our work as educators of hope.  I hope in the time ahead to share my own reflections and ideas I learn from others, a lot about technology, but some not.

I thank you for entering on this journey, and I welcome your comments.

It should be no surprise to anyone that it has taken me so long to write this post.  With the whirlwind of activity in my life, I feel lucky that I have finally had a chance to sit in a Starbucks and write (my favorite place for blogging).

Beyond the external chaos, however, I have been working to define for myself exactly how to approach writing here.  This is a personal blog.  My bosses know that I write here, and I invite anyone to read it, however, this is not an official outlet of the Diocese or the Schools Office, nor do I want it to be.  On the other hand, the reality is that I am Superintendent 24/7, and I need to be sensitive to that reality anytime I write or speak publicly.

On the surface this doesn’t seem like a huge problem.  Those who have read my blogs, Twitter posts, or (very rare) Facebook updates know that my writing is oriented toward teaching, greeting friends, and joking with colleagues.  There is noting in my posts that I would mind seeing on the jumbotron at Angel Stadium (though fans might find this confusing!).

However, I do express beliefs and concerns about the current state and future of the educational system that are sometimes revolutionary and challenging (and to be honest sometimes ill-considered and wrong headed).  I do not want readers to interpret from this that my decisions for schools will necessarily be rushing in these directions, or to think that I am expressing policy or any opinions beyond my own.

So as I start writing under a new hat I will be more careful to separate speculation from fact, opinion from decisions.  I want to continue to envision new vistas in educational technology, but this is only one aspect of my professional persona.

I know other superintendents blog on educational topics, and I would love to hear your comments, and everyone else’s thoughts on this situation.

Those who follow my blogs might have noticed that I have been somewhat behind in articles and podcasts (particularly the latter).  I have been neglectful of my digital world because of a whirlwind of activity in the corporeal one.

Without going into too much detail, in the past month I have been asked to leave my position as Assistant Principal of Mater Dei High School to become the Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Orange.  The suddenness of this possibility, decision, announcement, and transition has been staggering.  Leaving Mater Dei after 28 years in only a few weeks time is frightening and heartbreaking.  However, I am excited about new opportunities and challenges in my new position.

What this will mean to my digital life is unclear.  I intend to keep up the Shifting Platforms blog, and I hope to get back to providing podcasts and screencasts on To Tech as Jesus Did before long.  I hope to continue building my network of other school leaders on Twitter, and, let’s face it, I’ve never been good with Facebook, so no change there.

Though I will be dealing with  a broader range of schools and issues, I am hopeful that I can bring my experience and the great things that I learn each day to schools and to teachers in my diocese and beyond (one of my chief concerns that was addressed during this process was my need to continue presenting at conferences and workshops).

So as I shift from one platform to another, I look forward to sharing with you the shifting paradigms I find as well.

Or to quote my favorite poem from Tennyson:

Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.

Sometimes I am jarred into awareness of the difference between my world and that of the average (do I dare say normal?) educator.  Working with social media, Twittering, reading and writing blogs, listening to tech podcasts, and playing with new gadgets really does give one a different perspective and a different set of daily assumptions.

But Google Buzz, Google’s new foray into the Facebook/Twitter social media space,  may have pushed me over the edge.  I opened my Gmail last week to see Buzz added to my inbox menu.  I had heard about this new service on Buzz Out Loud that morning, so I was anxious to get to it.  I watched the short video that Google posted on the site and moved into my Buzz page…and the gears (not Google gears, my brain gears) ground to a halt.

Of course, I blame the media. 🙂 Google’s 2 minute video was colorful and lively and did everything but explain how to use Buzz or what to use Buzz for!  The commentators in the morning weren’t much more help.  “It’s like Google Wave light,” many suggested.  The only problem with this is that I tried Google Wave and decided that I didn’t know how to use this or what it was for either.  I had made my peace with waiting f0r the platform to develop or waiting until I needed something that my current tools didn’t do.

So I took a few feeble stabs at setting up my Buzz page.  I associated my Twitter and Picasa feeds and followed a few people that I knew.  Then the next day the security concerns broke (rather exploded).  I’m not as concerned with these as others, and I was pretty sure they would be worked out soon (it appears that they have).  Frankly my concern wasn’t that people were getting too much information from me, but that my pathetic Buzz page was a list of my Twitter postings and nothing else.

I’m always fighting with teachers who insist that they don’t have time to learn about new technologies and new media, but Buzz even pushes my buttons.  I wonder what it is for, how to use it, whether it is redundant to what I am using already, whether it will gain enough traction to be a productive tool, whether Google will pull the plug and have it disappear just as I get used to it, whether it is safe, whether I have sold by soul by agreeing to the terms of service.

Am I alone with this, or are there tools that send you over the edge?