Having my own technological philosophy could not have been stated better than your four points.
1) Your philosophy serves as a foundation for planning and/or assessment of teaching/training/doing
2) Being aware of your philosophy helps one to see your goals and values as a teacher/trainer/individual/stated more clearly
3) Your philosophy can serve as a guide to help you find and develop teaching/training/personal/professional practices
4) Sometimes you will be required to substitute a current philosophy with your job application and/or discussion of your philosophy in a job interview
5) However, I might add one to the list: over time, as you add years to your teaching experience, you might see an evolution of gained growth in your philosophy.
I see two different perspectives here as being helpful to me. As a student, it certainly has the means in getting your story out to the public concerning our educational issues. Blogging enhances and hones your written skills, it gives you an avenue for getting creative, too, and it might allow others to sound off about your point of view and thoughts.
As a teacher, blogging has potential for communicating with students and to the general public. It helps students with needed information keeping them informed on current events or their assignments. It also acts like a journal, keeping a record of your thoughts. That’s great for documentation, too. In essence, it's a multipurpose logbook. B) Heavens NO! C) There should be nothing preventing this, but there is. Is it know-how, lack of desire, time, overload? Probably a combination of several things. But at the same time, this phenomena called blogging is catching on like wildfire.
The article by November was extremely interesting and informative; however, I did have some disagreements with a few points in his discussion. His third point stood out in my mind most vividly. His lead statement was extremely true. As teachers and administrators, we do not make our case-in- point to the general public very well. Also, we hardly ever communicate with the non-teaching community. Two days a year is hardly communicating. Many times, we are just led to the slaughter by those who don't even have a clue about how teachers educate their children. Yes, we collaborate with each other, educator to educator, but not to the powers "that be" and to the overall American public. Teachers just continue what they do best and that is to teach, no complaining and no whimpering most of the time. We just don't have a clue how challenging our profession really is. Teaching is special and it's a gift that is not intended for everyone. Teachers need to begin to shout their profession from every house top and to every neighbor about our profession. We need to let those who are not in the profession know that teaching is a high calling. I have a slogan on my coffee cup that states, “Those who can, teach. Those who can’t go into some less demanding profession.” We, who are in the educational field, need to be proud of who we are and what we represent... "America"!
My concept map (or definition) explains my outlook and philosophy of educational technology itself. The 20 words used represent the wide horizontal expanse of technology. The words which are capitalized; technology, philosophy, pedagogy, supporter, informating, trained, and knowledge , represent the supporting pillars of educational technology in schools of the 21st century. Today’s schools just cannot survive without modern technology, period! In essence, it's our survival link. That is what it means to me personally, a survival-link in today’s overcrowded public schools. Because of all the demands from both federal and state governments, if we are without this link, schools would come close to a total collapse. How important is that?
