“Visitors and Residents”: Return to Being a Resident

As I viewed Dr. David White’s video “Visitors and Residents” (2013) and learned about the visitor/resident theory of internet use motivation, I saw my own movement along his continuum.  I was rapidly moving away from the visitor end of the continuum toward the resident end around six years ago, but I have allowed my resident role to regress over the past four years.  Fortunately, I am now moving back toward the role of a public educator on the resident end of the continuum.     

Around five years ago, I figured out how the edtech world of Twitter, blogging, and conferences worked.  I had the skills to become a strong resident and tested the waters.  I engaged by making my classroom public, writing reflective blog posts, sharing resources, participating in chats, and attending conferences.  However, I noticed that the amount of time and energy it took to maintain this level of participation distanced me from my classroom.  I was connecting with other educators instead of my own students and their invested adults.  I was focusing on trends in education instead of developments in educating traumatized foster youth.  I intentionally migrated back toward the visitor end of Dr. White’s visitor-resident continuum.  

But, I went too far.  I zoomed too far into my campus.  I practically stopped reading educational texts, stopped Tweeting, abandoned my classroom and professional blog, and moved my classroom’s online presence to a closed learning management system.  I focused on building relationships with, and learning from, adults on my campus from partner agencies and instructional coaches provided by my district’s new administration team.  I increased my responsibilities on campus by adding varsity volleyball coach and ASB advisor to my existing role as English 9 & 10 teacher and yearbook advisor.  My professional online identity began suffering from neglect--but so did my teaching.         
However, I still used Instagram to connect with educators in my personal learning network. This nudged me back over to the resident side of Dr. White’s continuum. Among a feed of pictures of my friends’ pets, children, and dinners, I began to see posts of creative projects from Reuben Hoffman (@reubenhoffman), makerspace tinkerings from Mark Rounds (@markrounds5), and conference networking adventures of Jeff Heil (@jheil65).  They were having fun and just plain doing cool stuff.  They made me want to jump back into the world of learning, taking risks, and sharing.  I started photographing and posting events on my campus.  But, I noticed that I was not posting many images from my classroom---because nothing worth photographing was happening!  When I pulled back from reading, writing, and sharing with other educators to focus on campus, I had unintentionally pulled back from learning and challenging myself.  Even though I had not heard of Dr. White’s visitor-resident continuum at the time, I realized that I needed to push myself back into participating in conversations in order to continue learning.  

So, I am back!  I am now intentionally pushing myself along Dr. White’s continuum from the visitor position I regressed into and back toward the resident side where I know I need to be in order to be an effective educator.  I am Tweeting again.  I am reading educational text--including books about trauma.  I am teaching lessons worth sharing on Instagram.  I am registered for conferences.  I am learning Google+.  I am locked into a Master's program that I know will hold me accountable in case I get distracted.  And, I am writing my first reflective blog post in four years.     

Works Cited
White, D. (2013, May 30). Visitors and Residents. Retrieved June 7, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sFBadv04eY  

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