Staying connected as a classroom is essential to today's students as well. Our classroom has connected with authors, app developers and museums through Twitter. We have also connect with other classrooms through our blogs. I want to continue to foster this with my students and continue to make them away of why we are doing it.
I have ideas... tech Tuesdays, district Twitter chats, whole school tech collaboration, becoming a stronger Twitter presence...
This will be the year that I take some or all of these ideas and put them in place. I would like to start with Tech Tuesdays in our building and invite my colleges to join me in exploring our new apps, find new websites or improve on skills we already have. In a play-date style of learning, I feel we could get a lot of bang for our buck by playing, chatting and giggling.
Being a leader in Tech is very important to me. I feel it is the right direction to go, should be taken seriously and the implementation should be given a lot of thought. However, I don't want to be seen as a one trick pony. I don't want to be seen as just the "tech girl". I want to be seen as the "the girl who read about everything". I want to be able to have smart conversations about the newest professional books, new waves in reading, best ways to implement the CCSS and discussing Writer's Workshop philosophies.
Will I be an expert at all of these things? No. But I will be knowledgeable and informed. I will be able to help guide someone to information if they are searching it. I will be able to ask intelligent questions to the right people.
Blogging is something I am great at. I can blog about passion projects outside of school. I can blog about Room 222 with the students in my class. I can even teach my 6 and 7 year olds to blog.
However, I have been stuck on how to actually blog about the profession I love. For some reason, I am self conscious of my knowledge about my profession. That seems horrible to say. I have been teaching for 10 years and I love to talk and read about getting better at what I do. But everyday, I read a blog post from another educator that blows my mind. I think to myself, "Will what I write blow someone's mind?"
I just need to start writing and find out.
Simple... Genius Hour. Done. Finished. Easy.
I will do this with my class. I will figure out how it works in 1st grade. I will use my many resources on twitter and in my building to help me.
My kids are all dying to be experts at something. I just need to give them the time they need.
There are parts of my day that I want to get better at. I enjoy my Reader's Workshop but there will always be room for improvement. I am lucky enough to have an amazing resource in my building. Jenelle M. is our McDole reading expert. She has an answer for everything and a fancy presentation to go with it. I need to identify my specific questions and go to Jenelle for help. She explains things beautifully and is able to understand my frustrations and concerns.
Cathy and Anne are our buildings other Tech experts. Leaning on them when I get overwhelmed with choices and option and road blocks is an essential tool for survival.
If I want my kids to be comfortable asking the the right kind of help, I need to be able to do the same.
Something to think about...
I hope you were able to take away 5 basic concepts while combing though my thoughts.
1. Join Twitter
2. Try being a leading in an area you love.
3. Don't be self conscious. Try it and see what happens.
4. Find something you are dying to try and make it a priority.
5. Simple, identify experts and ask for help.
What did you take away from this post?
Love that:
ReplyDeleteI just need to start writing and find out. Can't wait to hear your thoughts!
I've enjoyed blogging so far & love connecting with other teacher bloggers. I'm at http://teach4theheart.com/.