Teachers, Blogs & the Law

e-mentorship: Blogs and Mentoring (Part 2)

Reflecting back, I remember my first year of teaching I was involved in a cybermentoring program but it wasn't with blogs. The medium for our cybermentoring was via e-mail. I thought it was really good in some regards because I could tell my cybermentor how my day went and such with my sweet and tender hooligans and he'd tell me about his experiences being a special ed teacher (e.g. lesson plan ideas, classroom management advice). We started out writing once and week. However, after awhile I'd stop responding as much out of the sheer busy schedule of being a first year special ed teacher and told my mentor why. I'd also delete my e-mails after I read them our of e-mail habit. Now, looking back I wish that I kept those darn e-mails so I could see the evolution of my teaching.

But I digress...I think the whole idea of cybermentoring for me was finally shelved the day I discovered one of my students brought a gun to school and threatened another student for sitting next to his girlfriend. That day, I wrote my cybermentor about the incident, but did not really find any comfort in reading a text message with emotiocons. After that I felt really disconnected because I soon found out that he really didn't have as much experience as even I did with the population that I taught...Hence, our mentorship relationship expired. Granted he was a special ed teacher, but worked with another population besides EH with reading levels that ranged from K-8 all in one class. Thus, even he was at a loss for words regarding the population of students I teach. Thankfully, I had a lot of wonderful teacher mentors at my school that I did not have to log on to in order to connect with. Reflecting, I wonder at what point does someone outgrow his or her mentor and what makes other mentor relationships lifelong? Hmmm...

So where do blogs fit in with all this mentor talk? Well, I think that the blog format is better suited for cybermentorship than e-mails, for, the on-line journal format provides you with a diary to reflect back on your experiences and advice from your mentor. Granted, it is my contention that in the blogosphere the mentorship connection is limited in that when major things go on it's often hard to connect with an on-line mentor and often mentees outgrow their mentor. Alas, I believe that cybermentors fill a purpose, but do not compare with a face-to-face mentorship.

In conclusion, I feel the subject of blogs and mentoring are worthy of further study especially in the pedagogy. I wonder such things as how much support can one receive via an e-mentorship? Do cybermentorships benefit some students more than others and what are the limitations? And how much could blogs be used to facilitate emotional-social growth and support with our at-risk students?

posted by Mechelle De Craene @ 7:00 PM