I think that the whole idea of “being connected” is so important for us as teachers in education today. The demands of our job continue to increase but the amount of time in a day remains constant. Connecting with other teachers and educators allows for the sharing of ideas, so that you, alone, are not having to plan and develop every lesson in isolation!  The world of twitter is very new to me and it is work for me to understand it and use it. I do, however, see the benefit to me and eventually my students. The connections I can make will only strengthen and develop my existing skill set. Having said this, I do feel a bit like my students – when they are learning something brand new – going through this process. I understand that I need to learn this and want to learn it, but the process of getting there will put me out of my comfort zone. It is always challenging to learn something new, but…in my experiences… also rewarding. I look forward to the journey these workshops take me on… challenging me both personally and professionally.

Lindsay Blamey
Lord Roberts
Cluster 1971

Here it is, 11:00 pm on the day of our first PD day with George Couros and I can’t sleep.  I have to admit, I left the Admin Building today feeling disappointed and frustrated that I didn’t get much from the day’s presentation.  I spent the past seven hours thinking about how I would respond to my administrators asking how the day went in a way that wouldn’t get me kicked out of future opportunities.  I was preparing a speech about being inspired and about how many ideas I have to share with staff — all the while being grateful that it would be the last day before Spring Break which would leave me no opportunities to really get into any conversations.  I would have a week to think up my next move.

Feeling comfortable with my plan of action, I was ready to crawl into bed and shut off the day’s disappointment.  Then it hit me — today actually did leave a mark on me!

1. I connected with teachers from across the division on Twitter, which will, undoubtedly, inspire me to think beyond the 4 walls of my classroom.
2. I met some incredible teachers who shared some incredible thoughts with me — people whose path I will cross again and again and who will, I’m sure, become life-long friends.
3. I helped teach someone at my table how to understand what Mr. Couros was doing as he flipped from screen to screen to screen through applications that she was assured she didn’t need to know anything about prior to attending the workshop.
4. I re-discovered how limitless teaching and learning is.

My last realization is the one which is leaving me unable to sleep:

I re-discovered a passion for sharing professional ideas with other teachers and for taking risks in my teaching.

I work in a school where it is easy to get lost in what I am doing in my own classroom — shutting the doors and locking everything in….or everything out.  There are two teachers who I share ideas with regularly, the ones who stay late every night, who are passionate about students, who really live teaching.  They are what keeps me going from day to day.  I need to share, I need to learn, I need to feed the inner cravings for knowledge…. Which leads me to today’s PD.  As George went on about some of the things that keeps him passionate about education, I was looking at the Twitter account that I have neglected for the past year and re-established some of the connections I had made when I first began my Twitter-journey.  There are countless educators around the world ready to share and chat about what is happening in their classrooms and they help inspire me to continue to build and reflect on my teaching practices.

I had a set of iPads in my room last year which encouraged me to take risks with my students.  We blogged, we joined in Twitter Chats, we created projects, explored different applications, and explained our learning through pictures and videos. The opportunity to have the iPads shook me out of my comfort zone (in a good way).

This year, I do not have the iPads and I reverted back to my usual way of teaching.  Today, I asked myself “Why?”.  Today, I am reminded that the opportunities to grow and learn as a teacher are limitless.  Today I was re-inspired!

 

Written by: S. Seafoot,

Grade ½ Teacher at Lord Roberts School

Cluster 1971