On New Directions

New Directions: The Blog

A while back, I posted about my first academic review (which, it turns out, was not the first - more later).  The post is indicative of the new direction this blog will take over the next few years.  Instead of focusing exclusively on formal education and my current employment, the Teaching Consultant will shift towards personal reflections on the educational journey.  I considered beginning a new blog, but like the idea of being able to review my work in one place.  Criticality will continue to be a mainstay.  Accordingly, I continue:

an effort to work within educational institutions and other media to raise questions about inequalities of power, about the false myths of opportunity and merit for many students, and about the way belief systems become internalized to the point where individuals and groups abandon the very aspiration to question or change their lot in life. (Burbles & Berk, 1999, ¶ 16)

My other social media profiles have been less focused on the formal.  They have also been more successful at supporting my efforts to unravel the hegemonic discourses I note in my head.  I hope to find similar success in this, a new direction for the blog.

Fighting Fear

A few days after the last post, I realised that I had eschewed a slightly earlier review.  I tweeted a link about Cavino (2013) on 31 May, and then totally forgot about it.  I am still a little unsure about why I forgot, although reflection notes an element of embarrassment.  Cavino's commentary about my work is significantly more substantial than Belgrave's.  Further, Cavino's article is published in a top 15 international journal.  The impact of my academic work is improved by Cavino's publication.  Yet, despite the bravado suggested by my last post, I am actually a little scared of being visible.

 

My fear of visibility has made this post appear, only to have it returned to draft.  Followers of my Twitter posts will know that, subsequent to my husband's death, I have avoided interaction.  Even Tweets from users I know personally rarely receive response.  

 

I was raised to believe in collectivity and the value of quiet background work.  Interaction in social media is a pathway to individual influence.  I find emphasis on the individual difficult, an inclination reinforced by bereavement and a tendency towards introversion.  However, I am aware that this position offers justice to neither the work I tend nor its audience.  It excludes where my role is to welcome.

This post, therefore, marks not just a new direction for the blog, but for me more generally.  I can guarantee that I will not be responding to every Tweet sent my way.  But it is time for a change.  Let's see where this leads...

CITATION
Cavino, H. M. (2013). Across the colonial divide. American Journal of Evaluation, 34(3), 339-355.