Your blog or your job. You have 30 seconds to decide.

Yesterday I posted whimsically that that I would sell of my blog in a heartbeat if I could actually get even a fraction of what one website ‘estimates’ it’s worth. That got me thinking though. When I worked at my last school, I was extraordinarily careful about making sure I never named where I was working or spoke negatively about it. Even when I felt I had justifiable reason, I didn’t want to be the latest on the SimplyFired blog.

I’m pretty careful here at Discovery as well. There have been a few occasions of self-censorship, and it’s definitely in the back of my mind before I click submit. But here’s a little early morning question of scruples for you:

If your employer called you in told you that if you didn’t quit blogging you would lose your job, what would you do?

Shut it down and return to the classroom? Close up shop but become an underground anonymous blogger? Start writing a letter of resignation?

The reason I ask is that I’ve found that Teach42 awakened a part of me that I never realized was lying dormant. I knew I enjoyed writing in high school, but I never thought that it was something I would carry into adulthood. And I never NEVER imagined that it would directly influence my career in the way that it has. At this point blogging has opened up opportunities for me, created friendships, and helped me hone and refine my own thoughts and beliefs in profound ways. Can I say the same for my occupation?

I have to admit that I have thoroughly enjoyed working for Discovery. On the verge of my one year anniversary with the company, the job still surprises me and presents new challenges on a regular basis. As with any job, it has its ups and downs, but on the whole there are far more ups than downs. But if Discovery Education decided that blogs were a liability to the company and that I had to make a choice between my job and Teach42… Well, let’s just say I hope that I never have to make that decision because I hate being unemployed.

I love my job and truly believe in the company. But for some reason, blogging represents intellectual freedom and lifelong learning. Teach42 represents me in ways that nothing else can. You can learn more about me from this blog than from my cubicle, my house and my resume combined.

When I taught kindergarten, I always emphasized to the students that they couldn’t go wrong if they stayed true to themselves and verbalized what they were thinking. This is my place to do that.

So what would you do? You can always answer anonymously if you’re concerned about the wrong person reading your response.

Your blog or your job? Make your decision.

12 Comments

Ben
11/1/2006

This is a tough decision. It would probably depend on what day you caught me. If I was feeling confident, had an emotional “high” going for me I would say “Have to go with my blog.” However, if it was one of those, just paid the bills kind of days, looked at how low the bank account is, trying to pay for the most recent fix/maintenance on the house I’d be tempted to say “Have to go with my job.”

In the end I think I’d probably start blogging anonymously on a different site, but since my main blog is all about helping educators, I don’t forsee a problem in this area.

Bill Kempthorne
11/1/2006

It’s a tough question to answer in the abstract.

With some tongue in cheek, they would have to know what a blog is! In a recent discussion with some Education Technology managers, I discovered that only 1 in 10 new what del.icio.us was! .

There would have to be an expectation, preferably stated in as many words, about communications related to work outside of your regular circle. As a teacher, I think the expectation should be the opposite. The regular discussion of practice and resources should be a professional expectation.

The real problem with blogs is that the company in question will decide to care tomorrow about something they didn’t even know about today. So you need to worry about now – which may be predictable – but also the future.

Steve, if one of your blogs had been about this large educational media company and how they are a bunch of ….. , then that past posting would be more of an issue than any future one.

David Jakes
11/1/2006

Are you kidding me? Your blog?

Guaranteed salary (and a nice one), lifetime health insurance, paid retirement-and a 10 month job-that’s what I have. Give this up for a blog?

Please.

Deal Or No Deal? « Mr W’s Blogging Great Thing
11/1/2006

[...] Steve Dembo has posted a really good question on Teach42: Your blog or your job? You Have 30 Seconds to decide. I like the question because of its simplicity, but also because it gets right to the heart of what it means to be a reflective practitioner. [...]

OllieBray
11/2/2006

What a great question. Believe it or not I know of some teachers who have been asked to stop blogging. I think this is really to do with the fact that their headteacher did not know what a blog was. I even heard recently that a department in a school was told that they couldn’t use wordpress to build there departmental website. As soon as the head found out that it was a blogging tool, they became scared. Luckily that doesn’t happen in my school. We are actively encouraging staff, departments and students to start blogging.

To answer your question. I would find it very difficult to give up my blog. I think I would try and argue that it makes me a better, more reflective teacher and also argue the value of it to others (through statistics about its readership). I guess that if it really came to the crunch, I would give it up, after all I do have a mortgage and bills to pay. But I would actively look for another job at the same time. I wouldn’t want to work for a school that wanted to stop my personal professional development.

Great question! Ollie

Neil Winton
11/2/2006

I’ve been thinking about this question a lot since I read your post. It gets right to the heart of what we believe as reflective practitioners. I think it is interesting to look at the impact that blogging has had on the corporate world as a frame of reference.

There have been several noted cases where companies have actively dissuaded employees from blogging while others see it as a healthy part of their corporate culture (Robert Scoble has been writing about this recently).

In education, we are rapidly seeing more and more indications that blogging is an essential skill that we should be encouraging rather than suppressing, but how can we do this if the educators are being dissuaded from blogging themselves?

As a final point, I was listening to Ewan McIntosh’s session from SETT06 (Search for SETT on iTunes, and Ewan’s session is called “Web2.0 or what the hell happened to Web1.0″). In it he recounts how The Guardian, one of Britain’s more respected newspapers are now looking for journalists not on the basis of their degree, or other formal qualifications, but on the basis of how good the applicant’s blog is… I wonder if anyone hired on this basis would still be allowed to blog?

Thanks for a truly thought-provoking post… this is one that I suspect will run and run…

Drew Mishmash
11/2/2006

Hi 42

One of the fundamental promises I have made to myself-

If someone puts you an ultimatum, always decide against that person.

Love

Drew

Miguel Guhlin
12/2/2006

If you’re a fly-by-night blog author, where the writing is really about letting your hair down and blasting everybody in sight, then sure…the blog has to go. But, if your blog is really about conversations with other folks, about exploring new ideas and learning, then it’s simple as well…the blog is chosen.

You see, in a Read/Write Web world, if you compromise your learning, your reflection on your work, and interactions with other professionals, and that compromise is valued by your employer, then you lose more than just a job. You lose the freedom to cogitate, communicate, and collaborate in a connected world. In a world where we each can stand up and speak without fear to oppression, to make our case known and not be dependent on an employer to unequivocally say represent reality in a distorted, one-dimensional way…freedom of speech is more valuable than a job.

If Discovery Education failed to value your learning and reflection, or you failed to let them know what you really thought, then there is a fundamental dishonesty and lack of trust in the relationship. When I get hired, I want people to know what they’re getting, my capacity to learn and express myself, my desire to explore ideas even if they may be controversial.

I haven’t gotten here overnight. Certainly blogging has accelerated the process for me…blogging as conversation, as living up to the 100% potential of a Web that is 50% Read/50% Write.

Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner – MGuhlin.net
http://www.mguhlin.net

Jennifer W
12/2/2006

Grins — after I get back up from fainting from the realization that my admin even knew I had a blog (well my past admin)…..I would question first why they wanted me to shut it down.

If I was using the blog as a forum for personal gripes, especially about the school I was at, I might need to consider what they are saying to me. Not necessarily to end the blog — but perhaps switch the way I was blogging or create a new blog for gripes with an alias username. (grins)

But, in all fairness, if it is a truly educational blog, then I would not close it down. If they think it interferes with my work — then perhaps they just need clarification that it is written OFF the TIMECLOCK.

It is a bit ironic to me that you asked this question, because in 100% honestly, I started to blog because I wasn’t being listened to at my past position. The admin came into the lab ONLY if they needed help with something on their computer.

I began to blog because I had lost my voice and found my voice through blogging. And because the strength I gained by the blogging voice, and the encouragement I was receiving by people I only knew in cyberdom, I was able to walk away from a job this past June.

There is power in blogging — there is power in commenting — and there is power in collaboration — all which happens with blogging.

So — I guess, grins to sum up — if my admin asked me to stop blogging, my response would first be “Why” and then a “Sorry, I cannot.”

Jennifer
http://www.onlineprojects4teachers.com/wordpress/

Audrey Hill
12/3/2006

I’m ambivalent about blogging in general. My views are in a constant state of revision, but what I write is out there forever. I constantly update old entries… long after they’ve gone out. Even though I am not read by many, I feel like my words may misrepresent me to others. So that’s a problem. On the other hand, I have a right to my views and to make them public.

As of this writing, I THINK that my boss would have no reason to want to shut me down. I don’t speak specifically about my school, for the most part. I speak mostly about my own philosophy of teaching and in response to other bloggers. I once wrote an entry that I thought might be problematic for me, but I took it down and rewrote it to make it more innocuous. I suppose that costs me a little bit, since I edited myself there, but oh well… discretion being the better part of valor and all that.

I think I have a responsibility if I am going to blog. Blogging is publishing, even if it is informal. I don’t slander or revenge myself on the people I work with. I have some views about my job that may be controversial, but when you’re in the thick of things, it’s hard to be objective. I hope I would quit my job to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest if I found it necessary to rake muck or blow whistles.

To answer your question though… at this time, if it appeared to be my job or my blog, I think I’d have a good lawsuit and I’d pursue it rather than choose one over the other.