Comments on: Culture of Trust

By: Michelle Baldwin

Michelle Baldwin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:13:53 +0000

Edublogs is powered by Wordpress. It’s just specified for educational use. I liked the features, the community in Edublogs, and it was just a good fit for me when I started my blog.

By: Judy Weurding

Judy Weurding — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:04:57 +0000

Michelle,
How did you select the Edublogger as your preferred blog site? Is it more user friendly than wordpress?

I will be looking into the sites you suggested.

By: Michelle Baldwin

Michelle Baldwin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:27:30 +0000

Thank you, Judy!

For your classroom blog, are you using Edublogs? There are lots of great tips on the main Edublogs page for using blogs with students.

This URL : http://theedublogger.com/check-out-these-class-blogs/ has a list of over 200 classroom blogs. Sue Waters, The Edublogger, has compiled the list. Sue’s own Edublogger posts are also extremely helpful with ideas, suggestions, and how-to’s.

Hope this helps! Would be glad to hear back from you when you get it all started!

By: Judy Weurding

Judy Weurding — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 02:06:38 +0000

You have so eloquently phrased my thoughts on the subject of Trust. I have been teaching for 20 years and believe exactly as you do. I found once the expectations have been discussed the students will act accordling and be proud of the fact that I am not hovering over them eve4ry second. I am looking forward to starting a classroom blog with my 6th grade advanced language arts students. I am open to any and all suggestions.

By: Michelle Baldwin

Michelle Baldwin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:16:53 +0000

Very insightful, Benedikt! I’m so glad you added a comment. It’s nice to hear a student’s perspective!

By: Michelle Baldwin

Michelle Baldwin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:15:50 +0000

Thanks, Greg. I’ll email you through our district mail to tell you how to get to the blog… if you can. They have things pretty locked down.

By: Benedikt K.

Benedikt K. — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:05:16 +0000

I love this type of approach to school. As a high-school student myself I think a great deal of the teacher-student conflict is based off of mistrust.
Currently I am quite pleased with my situation, but in most of the schools I have been to, due to my father moving quite often, teachers looked upon me with suspicion. This suspicion lead to them restricting my intellectual movement and me, as the teenager I am, to bypass their barriers.
I think students fighting with their teachers in this manner results from a sort of spiral of mistrust that is then established in the both parties for a long time.
I really like the approach of trusting students rather than oppressing them. We are currently doing something similar in my english class, and I think it really pushes me and my peers forward. Maybe as technology becomes more prevalent and cheaper, more schools will approach learning this way.
Either way, thank you a lot for the post, it was interesting to find that not only teenagers see this problem.

By: Greg Schwanke

Greg Schwanke — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:33:42 +0000

Great post. I also feel a bit insulted when I’m not treated as a professional where I work. I am a teacher who is a professional and much like you strive and feel empowered when I am trusted to do my best. I strive for nothing less. Granted there are always days where things didn’t go well and I may put something off until the next time, but I end up catching myself up throughout the week and the end product is better than what I would have done in the heat of the moment. I feel that I am so constained that in the end my students are the ones suffering.

I think your idea of instilling trust within our students is a great way to create a postive relationship with them as well as empower them to take more ownership in their learning. I would like to start a blog with my students. Could I check out your class blog as an example of how a classroom blog is setup? If so, how would I access it? I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

By: Michelle Baldwin

Michelle Baldwin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:26:02 +0000

Thanks, Gregg! I really think it’s time to make this change HAPPEN. I keep complaining about it, but I haven’t been an active enough “change agent.” No more- I’m going to be loudly and proudly advocating for trust. Can’t wait to read your post!

By: Gregg Robke

Gregg Robke — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:17:30 +0000

Michelle, Thanks so much for this post. My wife and I had a conversation with our 16 year old about “What would learning look like?” I blogged his response today – the same day you wrote about this “culture of trust” – When do we start thinking differently about how our students learn? http://grobke.blogspot.com