Two years ago Jessica Watson sailed into Sydney Harbour to finish her quest to be the youngest to sail around the world non-stop and via the notorious Cape Horn no less.
Sometime before that a bunch of people formed likeable acquaintances through her daily blog updates. Some of us just had to comment every time, we couldn't resist☺☺☺
Later we called ourselves the Jessaholics (acquaintance turned into friendship) and set up a blog to keep in touch as well as watch and report on Jessica's spirit of adventure.
Last week we got together and 'holics' from around Australia
and the world had lunch at Mooloolaba. It was Fantazmagorrical.
Jessica Watson was gracious enough to fit us into her busy schedule and joined us at the Wharf Tavern at Mooloolaba.
Her mum Julie and sister Emily came along as well as Andrew Fraser from 5 Oceans media.
Here's Andrew Fraser, Emily, Jess and Julie.
(It was a bit glary from where I was sitting, sorry).
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*Never forget the greater picture of why I'm blogging. I will not write posts to gain followers, get attention with snarky comments, or harm either students of co-workers with my words. I blog to become a better teacher, hone my own insights, gain a better understanding of my teaching journey, connect with other educators who, in turn, can make me become a better teacher.
*Always write about a child in a way so that if their parent found the blog they would know I respected every aspect of their child's learning- although I may write weaknesses I must always show the child's true strengths & write to show how much I love and appreciate the child.
*Always write about my co-workers in a way that also reflects their strengths. I have amazing co-workers, which is truly a blessing. I value collaborating and believe that we are better teachers when we put our heads together. I never want to write anything that will in any way hurt our relationship, which in turn would hurt the students' learning. I don't want to use my blog to vent, in turn hurting the trust someone has put in me.
*I will work hard not to write anything that will prevent me from doing my job. I do not want anything I write to hurt my co-workers, students, or my school in any way. I have the best job in the world, and I would hate to end up having to leave teaching because I forgot the bigger picture in my blog.
*I try my best to stick to these, but I'm sure you can find posts I've written that don't follow these 4 rules. But I try. Sometimes I might think I'm following them and I don't, and later I can see where I made my mistake. Know I'm trying, and if you feel I haven't done one of these let me know.
So, here's what I see as our blogging rights-
*We have the right to reflect on our teaching journey on-line.
*We have the right to collaborate with educators from all over the world.
*We have a right to wonder what is best practice, debate education policies/practices/teaching styles, and question what is not working in an on-line forum.
*We have a right to use our blogs to process a difficult day, as long as we stay within the lines of the responsibilities listed above.
The combination of the Rights/Responsibilities allows us to:
*Communicate & collaborate with educators from all over the world
*Become more reflective in our teaching
*Improve our teaching practices to best benefit our students
*Find the silver linings inside the most frustrating of days & know that we are not alone
*Keep a sense of humor, which, in turn, allows us to be stronger teachers who come back to work day after day inspired, energized, and ready for a challenge