Some years ago I overheard a fellow teacher state something to the effect that metaphorically the halls of our college were the place where students can and should trip and fall so that that by the time they completed their program they would have learned what was needed to stand on their own and be successful beyond the halls and walls of the institution. This is a face-to-face college and at the time the statement resonated with me although over the years I have wondered about the “trip and fall” part of this and just what shape this might take.
I believe that the process of things is very important and I wonder if the process of blogging can be a benefit in the finding of one’s voice and the honing one’s thoughts. In other words, can blogging become a form of trial and error testing or serve as a form of trip and fall? One of my excuses for not blogging very often is the time it takes. I fuss and I rewrite and rethink my words to death and in the end there is little left to post. I rationalize and I get in my own way instead of posting my thinking (complete or otherwise) and letting it fly for others to either engage with or not. Many good ideas get shelved because of this “I’m not sure it’s good enough” attitude.
Years ago my Master’s supervisor repeatedly had to tell me to stop reading and start write. I argued that I wasn’t ready and I needed to refine my thinking further. She wisely told me that I would never be ready if I believed I needed everything refined and supposedly perfect before I wrote. I finally realized that my writing barrier was that I wanted a finished, completed and correct product the first time I wrote. Yet when I finally found that part of me that permitted me to write; my successful thesis presented itself. My supervisor could finally see my ideas and could assist me in refining my thinking. I did not see this as tripping and falling but I did begin to understand the honing process.
I believe that knowledge is socially constructed and that knowledge itself is a process that we need to share yet if we wait for everything to be perfect nothing will ever be produced. Each successfully created product just becomes another process piece and the cycle repeats itself in a process of refinement. Unless we find ways to continually share both the product and the process we prevent ourselves from learning how to stand on our own and grow in our success.
OK I get it –stop rewriting and hit post.