When does reflection become navel-gazing

I've noticed that my need to post to this blog has really declined in the past month or so.  I'm pretty sure this has a lot to do with my new school.  Reflection is a key component at this school - I meet with three different teachers formally for planning and reflection.  I meet with the High School Director every other week for formal reflection time.  As a staff, we formally meet about three times a week.

This doesn't count all the informal reflecting that is going on - passing in the halls, lunch, waiting outside our room in between classes ...

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not complaining at all.  Having this kind of interaction with my colleagues was what I was sorely missing at my old school and the whole reason why I wanted to transfer to this school.  I can tell that in the past month I've learned so much through this conversations that this transfer was a very good thing for me.

But, what about my blogging?  In the first year of this blog, I typically blogged during two times - when I had free time at school and when I got home from school.  My free time at this new school is now productive time - meeting with other teachers, etc.  The other time I have, I'm busy trying to plan lessons.  When I get home from school, it is usually later in the evening and the last thing I want to do is to extend the amount of time school has taken up in my life (I am more than a teacher, I keep having to remind myself).

Even without the time constraints, I just don't feel the need to blog.  I used it as a space for reflection and to get some feedback on my teaching.  I have that now as a part of my job.  In reading others' blogs, those who post the most seem to be in schools where reflection with peers is not commonplace.  At this point, I feel like blogging at the same frequency as last year would be an exercise in navel-gazing for me.  I spend the whole day thinking about my practice, and then I'm going to come home and do the same?  It's personally too much for me.

That's not to say that I don't plan on continuing posting on this blog.  But, I think it is a useful examination of the whole edublogging practice - especially those blogs run by and for teachers discussing classroom practice.  When the productive, reflective conversations are happening in the school, is there a need for the teacher to blog for a wider audience?

Comments

[nani]

Well, I might be biased but...
I think another purpose for blogging is the networking aspect--communicating with other teachers about the work they are doing, and sharing your own work.

[Tim Fredrick]

Goodness - I just posted this and already you've commented!!! Hahaha.

To me, 'communicating' and 'sharing' are reflective activities and because I'm always communicating and sharing at my school, I don't feel as strong of a need to post to the blog. Of course, I always value the colleagues I've met and the advice I've gotten. But, I wonder if I had been having this experience at my current school this time last year whether I would have ever felt the need to blog or would have done it this long.

I guess I'm thinking about the question "Why do we blog?"

[Tom Hoffman]

I think there is "I'm reflecting on this changing process blogging" and there should also be "I'm publically and permanantly documenting, in a still fairly low-stress and informal way, my more or less stable teaching processes blogging." We've got a fair amount of the former, due to the novelty of the form, but I'm looking forward to more of the latter.