I started a blog!

[rachelann1991]

Hi, all!

 

First semester Ph.D. in English student here! I recently started a blog to share my experiences / difficulties / funny stories / good times in graduate school! Here's a link if anyone wants to check it out!

 

http://englishphdreamer.wordpress.com

 

Anyone else start a blog? I'd love to read it! Also, my dear 2015 applicants, feel free to ask me questions / solicit advice! 

[Dr. Old Bill]

Great first post, Rachelann! I'll be sure to follow it regularly.

 

I've thought many times about writing my own blog, but simply haven't. Maybe someday...

[qwer7890]

The sentiment you express in this post is an important one... but I would urge you to be cautious in writing publicly about your interactions with current students. Since you're only TAing for one class, and its your first one, it will be very clear to your students and others at the university which class you're talking about. And although you didn't name names, it might be clear to students in the class which students you've quoted from. FERPA laws are rather strict... but more importantly, you risk making public something a student told you in confidence--and the students, particularly the female students who you quote from, might feel publicly shamed.

 

When in doubt, I think it's best to treat interactions with students as *highly* confidential... I know I might feel very upset or that trust had been breeched, if an instructor wrote publicly about a private meeting. 

Edited October 1, 2014 by qwer7890

[rachelann1991]

Thanks, Wyatt's Torch and qwer7890! And I think you're absolutely right, quer7890. I didn't use exact quotes, despite the quotation marks - I more paraphrased - and I figured since it was six or so students pretty much saying the same thing, it would be okay, THIS TIME and in THIS CONTEXT, to write about, in a general way, the sentiments of the class as a whole. Plus, I pretty much told the entire class the same things I wrote in the blog when I gave the class a mini-pep talk on Thursday. However, I couldn't agree more with you about respecting student confidentiality. Had it been only one student, or had it been information of a more personal nature, or had any of the students shared their nerves about writing papers in anything but a casual, kind of off-hand way, I wouldn't have put it into writing at all!