Mr Media's Blog

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Thanks to Big Brother, I am Dick-less

Big Brother is watching me. 

ME? 

I am a mild mannered high school teacher.
I pay my taxes. I read a book a week.
I don’t own guns. I have never been arrested.
I haven’t even had a speeding ticket.
I wear a blue button-down shirt and tan trousers, for heaven’s sake.

But yes, Big Brother is watching ME. 

A few years ago, every public school teacher in our tiny Canadian province was given a laptop computer by our employer. I use mine for job functions, taking attendance, answering emails, making PowerPoint presentations.  And I write this little blog, semi-frequently turning out a column, an article or a book review with the expressed view that it might help other teachers of media education. 

Sometimes I share my blog with my students, but only if it fits the lesson plan of the day. I think it is important for teachers to be able to model the kinds of activities they are asking students to complete. I just find the web site, hook the computer to an in-focus projector and beam it up on the board at the front of the class. 

After writing a piece about the names of TV show characters, I found my blog had been blocked by the Dept. of Education scrutineers. The web-police, the thought-Gestapo, decided my blog was too dangerous to use in the classroom. 

My blog was about “Third Rock from the Sun” characters, Tom, Dick and Harry. Apparently, I can’t use that term in my classroom. 

To appease the Internet Invigilators, I took my blog off the site. So thanks to Big Brother, I am now officially Dick-less.