Technically Invisible

Are you feeling uncomfortable?  Well, that makes two of us.

Hopefully, by the time you are done reading this post, the two of us will feel differently.

Last weekend was the ASCD Empower18 national conference in Boston, MA.  It was a big deal that was a long time in the planning stages…..

I am the President-Elect for the Massachusetts affiliate of ASCD. Our team was heavily involved in the planning since last summer.  We welcomed visitors at receptions, created a custom welcome video, acted as Tour Guides for visiting educators, manned our MASCD booth and worked closely with staff at ASCD to help things run smoothly.

Months ago, I worked with students in my district to create 40 videos for members arriving to Boston and introduced them to the Freedom Trail. Videos were featured on big screen monitors in the registration area.

On top of that, I presented (twice!) in breakout sessions.  Once was on the power of reflection in changing culture in education. The second session featured ten Ignite presentations put on by Massachusetts leaders and MASCD board members.  Mine focused on anxiety.

There was SO much to be excited about.

So much to be proud of.

So much to share out with others.

However, there one part of the weekend I was EXTREMELY excited about!  Earlier in March, Mark Barnes asked me to do a live interview with him for Hack Learning.  Seriously?  He had a lineup of education RockSTARS and I was being included!?!? I was honored and (if you know me at all), nervous.

Sunday I joined Mark in the HackLearning booth at Empower18.  The app Periscope was being used to broadcast all interviews live.  If you are not familiar with Periscope – it is an app on your phone that can launch a live broadcast onto social media channels.  Hack Learning’s broadcasts were going out on Twitter, Facebook and the HackLearning website. Thankfully, I felt like I was having a conversation with a friend as I chatted with Mark.

Later on, the awesome folks at Hack Learning shared with me that during my broadcast, there was a person who left a comment.

One Person.

One Comment.

“When does she take off her dress?”

My first reaction was nervous laughter.  I have a great sense of humor and I am not easily offended. So, I did.  I laughed.

And then, the next morning? I saw the video.  I saw the comment appear right in the middle of our interview.

And I didn’t laugh.

Instantly,

I felt uncomfortable.

I felt embarrassed.

I felt ashamed.

Then….

I felt angry.  SO very angry!!!

Think about it: I could not share this video with my employer! Or with my family! Or with my friends! Or with our MASCD members!!  I could not re-Tweet it! I could not post it on Facebook! I wanted those 3rd graders to see how their videos were celebrated, yet I couldn’t share it with such an inappropriate comment smack dab in middle!!

I was SO. Very. Angry.  

How DARE YOU!!??!!!

I headed to Periscope to look up the user’s profile. Anonymous.  Try as I might, my sleuthing skills failed me and I could not find the identity of the commenter.  All I found was dead-end after dead-end. The profile could represent any gender, age, or location. The comment left on our broadcast certainly was in violation of Periscope’s Terms of Service, but it doesn’t really matter because another anonymous account will pop up where this one fades away.  The best I could do was to block it and report the issue.

You might be wondering at this point: why am I even writing this blog post?  

I know.

Great question.

I refuse to be silenced.  I refuse to let this person take something from me I was not willing to give. I refuse to feel less than professional.  I refuse to allow the darkness of the Internet cast a shadow on students, or learning, or transparency, or collaboration.  Not today!  Not on my shift!!!

Hope floats, and I REFUSE to sink!

So, here is the link on Periscope. If you watch on a computer, you will not see the comment. If you watch on a mobile device, consider yourself warned.  

I think the content outweighs the comment.

But you can decide that for yourself.

You are an adult.

Just as you would always do, if you are sharing this video (or any video) with a young viewer, please do so only after previewing on a computer. It is okay NOT to share!

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1eaJbplMMZdKX

Will I be okay?  Of course. Far worse has happened to me and others on the Internet.  Will I appear on Periscope in a similar interview again at some point?  Of course.   Will I use this as a lesson in my future professional development sessions with my teachers?  You betcha!

Thank you to all of those brave people who know magical things are happening in schools every single day and share them out in public ways.  We must share our stories, and our obstacles in doing so. Our voices matter!

Thank you to my good friend Craig Martin, who shared this poem with us on a Scholastic folder when we visited his amazing school during Empower18. It has encouraged me the whole time I struggled with this blog post.

I am resilient.

I use language unapologetically.

I am making my mark.

I want for a better humanity for all.

To this end, I write!

Speak life,