Twitter is an amazing platform for those involved in education to share ideas and challenge ideologies, in a previous post I talked about how it's given me a new lease of life. But on Thursday I saw a side to twitter that I didn't like. The Dark Side. I realised that what makes twitter so amazing is also what makes it so dangerous. Twitter is, in essence, a giant staff room.
If I think of every staff room I've ever been in (and including interviews for jobs I didn't get, there are plenty!) it's really easy to place staff into categories. In any staff room you will find a few of of each, often huddled together in their respective corners or nook, usually all facing towards the area reserved for supply colleagues, cancelling each other out. Some are positive, some are negative. But we need them all, or maybe nearly all: eager and excited NQTs, a little green perhaps, but less frightened to take risks; T&L gurus, focussed on the latest pedagogy practice and innovation; the behaviour specialists, for who the toughest nuts cower and coo; the cynics, who've been there and seen it a million times before; the sycophants, wearing and/or holding a less expensive version of whatever SLT have (I'm typing this on an iPad 1); the know-it-alls, who don't usually know anymore than how to do it 'theoretically'; and the bullies, they're the worst, because they are usually the best at what they do, which means they often wield the most power to cause harm.
But on twitter this power is multiplied n fold (I haven't done a research project so can't quantify the measurement). Every Thursday is #ukedchat day and this week happened to be on SOLO Taxonomy. Now, I'll admit this much, I don't believe in it. I'm saying it in hushed tones for the simple reason that I didn't believe in Bloom's either, but my SLT definitely did, and I've got a sneaky suspicion that they'll be all over SOLO soon enough and, as a result, so will I (at least I will seen to be). But I'm well aware that lots of people do believe in it and that's fine with me, let them be I say. I might even pinch a resource or two (probably deleting the squiggly symbols so my kids aren't freaked out) and that's why I chose not to pay much attention to Thursday night's chat.
Except I couldn't avoid it. You see, a member of my department, an extrememly hardworking and creative professional, and friend, does believe in SOLO. He also believes in creating amazing material and teaching quality lessons each and every day. He's posted an incredible number of top resources that have been favourited, retweeted and magpied by hundreds of appreciative teachers. He's put himself out there I suppose, and as soon as he did, he opened himself up to criticism. I'm sure everyone accepts that it's part of the process. I've no problem with it - criticism given and received constructively allows opportunities for development, reflection and improvement.
But what unfolded on Thursday was far from developmental; it felt, at least to me as an observer, vindictive and unnecessarily cruel. Criticising someone's hard work is one thing, including their twitter handle as you send a barrage of snide, sarcastic, vitriolic tweets back and forth between one another as you rip their work apart is something else. Some might even say it was bullying. And just like the bullies in the staffroom, I'm not sure they realised they were doing it. But that's not an excuse. I doubt that any of them would allow pupils to treat one another in the same way in their classroom, so what makes it acceptable on twitter? Nothing. It's not.
I'd like to think that those involved would read this; take a bit of time to reflect, perhaps even treat it as an opportunity for self-improvement and learn from it. Sadly, I know the reality will be very different, mainly because, apart from my wife, no-one actually reads this blog.
