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r/Teachers: Online Community Write Up
I joined Reddit just over a year ago after hearing about it on a podcast. The comedy podcast presented Reddit in (what I feel is) an accurate light, stating that overall Reddit is a breeding ground for a certain brand of condescending “mansplaining” or “you’re doing it wrong” ethos, with some pockets of delightful interaction. The hosts of the podcast felt that Reddit could be a fascinating, enjoyable forum for discussion and sharing, but it mostly sunk to one-upmanship and insults for humor’s sake. They also mentioned the dark, unmoderated crevices that exist on Reddit, warning against curiously clicking links that can not be unseen.
Overall, I feel like these podcasters have a fairly accurate take on the internet community, with the exception of some specialized forums, known as SubReddits. Reddit uses a shorthand convention for naming SubReddits: “r/” followed by the title of the forum. Initially, I joined Reddit and subscribed to feeds that matched my interest when browsing other sites on the internet: gadgets, movies, comedy, food. But, I soon found myself at odds with the aforementioned ethos of Redditors being rude for the sake of humor or sadism or whatever reason. It was pizza that changed my mind about Reddit, more accurately, r/Pizza.
I joined r/Pizza as a goof. While I like pizza, both eating and occasionally making it, I did not think an internet forum on pizza would be anything more than a joke. I was wrong. In this SubReddit I found a community of sincere pizza lovers. The typical post in r/Pizza goes as follows: someone posts a picture of a pizza. Then describes how it was made, ingredients, cooking techniques, baking method. Each post has an up arrow and a down arrow beneath it. If you like a post, you “Upvote” it. Conversely, if you dislike a post, “Downvote” it. This system democratically decides what posts appear at the top of the page, and therefore get the most traffic. Then, other subscribers will comment on the pizza, offering praise, asking clarifying questions, offering advice (when solicited), and encouraging progress. It was a thoughtful, kind discussion by people who truly loved discussing the topic.
After my discovery of what Reddit could be based on r/Pizza, I started to consider the things in my life that I felt that strongly about and that I would want to discuss on that level. I joined r/Teachers as I entered the MAT program hoping to get a glimpse into the profession I am pursuing. I have not been disappointed with the level of discourse and the open, helpful nature of the community.
My first interaction with r/Teachers was to read others’ posts for a while without commenting, known as “lurking.” While lurking, I discovered a wide range of teachers with differing backgrounds, experiences, and settings. There were Middle School English teachers, like me, giving advice to First Grade teachers and High School Chemistry teachers with respect and encouragement obvious in each post. No one dismissed another member’s comment based on experience, or specialty. They seemed to understand the value of a peer’s knowledge.
At the time that I began lurking, many teachers were trying to find jobs. Recent graduates, or teachers relocating or simply looking for a change were asking for advice on updating resumes, interviews, philosophies and where (geographically) teachers were treated best. Commentors shared advice, information and resources generously and I made note of what could help me in the future by Upvoting, which is then logged and saved in my personal profile. I also made a point of Upvoting particularly helpful motivations or kind advice, which is where I saw the most value of this SubReddit resided.
The other trend that I have noticed in r/Teachers is burnout. Teachers often use the forum to vent, complain, commiserate and share horror stories from the job. This is usually met with understanding and encouragement and when I decided to become active in the community this was where I started. My post follows:
So, I'm in a program where I had a few summer classes, I have a year long internship and I take online classes to finish up my teaching degree. I've been in my classroom with a host teacher for a few weeks and she wants me to be her co-teacher. I've been active since day one. Leading short lessons, grading, etc. Lately she's been leaving me alone with the classes. Usually for about 15-20 minutes. These kids aren't bad, but I have had zero classroom management training. I told my host teacher, but she shrugged it off. I am not in control of these kids. When she leaves, they do whatever they want. They don't listen to me at all. I don't want to just write them up and hope they behave next time. How can I convince them I'm for real? Any advice to a complete rookie? (Link)
Clearly, I am scared at this point in my career. I try to pass the buck to my host teacher. I know enough not to blame the students, but I am far too hard on myself, implying that I am not to be taken seriously, that I am a “complete rookie.” I only received 3 Upvotes, but my post begun a discussion that led to 11 comments, all kind, and offering the genuine advice I had asked for. Comments included, “Be a total a**hole. You're not going to be, but it's going to feel like it. I have a select few rules that I enforce intensely…” and “I'm not going to lie, the next few weeks will be rough while you work out what suits you, but when you start to get it, you'll feel awesome. Do a good job and it's like having 90 minions (okay 80 because 10 are too cool) that you help shape. All the best!” I ended up following the advice of the first comment and taking the second commenter’s encouragement to heart. The situation worked out. I feel confident with my classroom management skills, and am able to have fun with the same students who were scaring me at the beginning of the year.
Since I’ve been an active member, I have been able to offer advice and encouragement to student teachers in similar situations (Link) and have mined the community for help with my developing a unit teaching on podcasting (Link).
I often read and commiserate with teachers sharing in their struggles or celebrating their triumphs and keep an open mind to the what I can learn from this community. I plan to remain an active member of r/Teachers, participating in the community by offering advice, asking questions and sharing resources. And when the job becomes too much for me to handle and my fellow forum members can not ease my stress, I will click on over to r/Pizza for a reminder that the important things in life are what you make them.
I joined Reddit just over a year ago after hearing about it on a podcast. The comedy podcast presented Reddit in (what I feel is) an accurate light, stating that overall Reddit is a breeding ground for a certain brand of condescending “mansplaining” or “you’re doing it wrong” ethos, with some pockets of delightful interaction. The hosts of the podcast felt that Reddit could be a fascinating, enjoyable forum for discussion and sharing, but it mostly sunk to one-upmanship and insults for humor’s sake. They also mentioned the dark, unmoderated crevices that exist on Reddit, warning against curiously clicking links that can not be unseen.
Overall, I feel like these podcasters have a fairly accurate take on the internet community, with the exception of some specialized forums, known as SubReddits. Reddit uses a shorthand convention for naming SubReddits: “r/” followed by the title of the forum. Initially, I joined Reddit and subscribed to feeds that matched my interest when browsing other sites on the internet: gadgets, movies, comedy, food. But, I soon found myself at odds with the aforementioned ethos of Redditors being rude for the sake of humor or sadism or whatever reason. It was pizza that changed my mind about Reddit, more accurately, r/Pizza.
I joined r/Pizza as a goof. While I like pizza, both eating and occasionally making it, I did not think an internet forum on pizza would be anything more than a joke. I was wrong. In this SubReddit I found a community of sincere pizza lovers. The typical post in r/Pizza goes as follows: someone posts a picture of a pizza. Then describes how it was made, ingredients, cooking techniques, baking method. Each post has an up arrow and a down arrow beneath it. If you like a post, you “Upvote” it. Conversely, if you dislike a post, “Downvote” it. This system democratically decides what posts appear at the top of the page, and therefore get the most traffic. Then, other subscribers will comment on the pizza, offering praise, asking clarifying questions, offering advice (when solicited), and encouraging progress. It was a thoughtful, kind discussion by people who truly loved discussing the topic.
After my discovery of what Reddit could be based on r/Pizza, I started to consider the things in my life that I felt that strongly about and that I would want to discuss on that level. I joined r/Teachers as I entered the MAT program hoping to get a glimpse into the profession I am pursuing. I have not been disappointed with the level of discourse and the open, helpful nature of the community.
My first interaction with r/Teachers was to read others’ posts for a while without commenting, known as “lurking.” While lurking, I discovered a wide range of teachers with differing backgrounds, experiences, and settings. There were Middle School English teachers, like me, giving advice to First Grade teachers and High School Chemistry teachers with respect and encouragement obvious in each post. No one dismissed another member’s comment based on experience, or specialty. They seemed to understand the value of a peer’s knowledge.
At the time that I began lurking, many teachers were trying to find jobs. Recent graduates, or teachers relocating or simply looking for a change were asking for advice on updating resumes, interviews, philosophies and where (geographically) teachers were treated best. Commentors shared advice, information and resources generously and I made note of what could help me in the future by Upvoting, which is then logged and saved in my personal profile. I also made a point of Upvoting particularly helpful motivations or kind advice, which is where I saw the most value of this SubReddit resided.
The other trend that I have noticed in r/Teachers is burnout. Teachers often use the forum to vent, complain, commiserate and share horror stories from the job. This is usually met with understanding and encouragement and when I decided to become active in the community this was where I started. My post follows:
So, I'm in a program where I had a few summer classes, I have a year long internship and I take online classes to finish up my teaching degree. I've been in my classroom with a host teacher for a few weeks and she wants me to be her co-teacher. I've been active since day one. Leading short lessons, grading, etc. Lately she's been leaving me alone with the classes. Usually for about 15-20 minutes. These kids aren't bad, but I have had zero classroom management training. I told my host teacher, but she shrugged it off. I am not in control of these kids. When she leaves, they do whatever they want. They don't listen to me at all. I don't want to just write them up and hope they behave next time. How can I convince them I'm for real? Any advice to a complete rookie? (Link)
Clearly, I am scared at this point in my career. I try to pass the buck to my host teacher. I know enough not to blame the students, but I am far too hard on myself, implying that I am not to be taken seriously, that I am a “complete rookie.” I only received 3 Upvotes, but my post begun a discussion that led to 11 comments, all kind, and offering the genuine advice I had asked for. Comments included, “Be a total a**hole. You're not going to be, but it's going to feel like it. I have a select few rules that I enforce intensely…” and “I'm not going to lie, the next few weeks will be rough while you work out what suits you, but when you start to get it, you'll feel awesome. Do a good job and it's like having 90 minions (okay 80 because 10 are too cool) that you help shape. All the best!” I ended up following the advice of the first comment and taking the second commenter’s encouragement to heart. The situation worked out. I feel confident with my classroom management skills, and am able to have fun with the same students who were scaring me at the beginning of the year.
Since I’ve been an active member, I have been able to offer advice and encouragement to student teachers in similar situations (Link) and have mined the community for help with my developing a unit teaching on podcasting (Link).
I often read and commiserate with teachers sharing in their struggles or celebrating their triumphs and keep an open mind to the what I can learn from this community. I plan to remain an active member of r/Teachers, participating in the community by offering advice, asking questions and sharing resources. And when the job becomes too much for me to handle and my fellow forum members can not ease my stress, I will click on over to r/Pizza for a reminder that the important things in life are what you make them.