The Search Begins

I've begun researching the use of blogs in the classroom, and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and underwhelmed all at once.

Quite a few bloggers out there are rather rabid, and I'm beginning to wonder if somehow the internet has spawned the solution to everyone, everywhere, finally getting along. Ah, hyperbole. Still, the excitement surrounding the power of blogs to give voice to the world is real. This excitement is infectious; how will my students engage in the world through blogs? The little I have seen in my early diggings gives me hope.

I haven't, however, found much on many of the issues that a school-sponsored foray into the blogosphere ought to be creating. Where are the discussions of the child protection act? of protecting the privacy of minors? of protecting the teacher and district from lawsuits? I am fully enamoured with the glittering power of student-led publication, but the realist--the one who keeps me employed and pays the bills--knows this is not an area to charge into headlong. Indeed, there are very good reasons not to blog. The idea of the secret service visiting one of my students in the middle of the night because of something s/he wrote is chilling in the least.

I've only scratched the surface and there are so many questions. Questions are good.