Reflections on Connections

“If you make sure you’re connected,

The writing’s on the wall

But if your mind’s neglected,

stumble you might fall.”

Stereo MC’s

I’ve made a few (academic) new year’s resolutions… and one of them is to read more. Professional reading. Reading that will further my knowledge, understanding and skills as an educator. Reading that will stimulate my own personal growth and create new dimensions in my classroom teaching. Over the summer break I read ‘A Whole New Mind’ by Dan Pink. I couldn’t put it down and I can’t wait to go back and re-read it (and then write a post about it). 

Yesterday I started ‘The Connected Educator’ (pictured above) and I find the same thing happening. I almost feel like I am back in university as I find myself making notes and highlighting sentences that resonate with me. Somehow this book is validating everything I have been working on for the past eighteen months. Working hard to become a connected educator. I now realize how far I have come, and also how far I still have to go. The biggest development for me has been the realisation of what is described in the book as the power of connected, self-directed professional learning.

Learner first. Teacher second. This has been a massive shift in mindset for me, but I know that somewhere along the way it has happened. Before… I just did not see myself as a learner, only as a teacher, an ‘expert’. Who was I fooling? I did not place any value in reflection. Yet now I see it as a vital part of my professional life (hence this blog). My passion for my own professional learning has been reignited, injecting a refreshing new outlook into my career. It’s still all a bit messy, but I’ve come to accept that great learning is messy. It certainly didn’t happen overnight, it was more of a gradual shift, but it has been a significant one and it has pushed me way out of my comfort zone. I see that as a very good thing. My whole approach to learning and teaching is being challenged and I can feel myself changing. I’ve been teaching for over eighteen years and all this change has happened in the last two. 

Chapter One of ‘The Connected Educator’ is all about understanding what it is to be a connected learner. I like the differentiation between cooperation and collaboration. Have I moved beyond cooperation yet? Maybe not completely, but I am definitely headed in the right direction. I completed the self-evaluation rubric to determine where I stand as a literate 21st century learner (I’m not doing so bad!). It was an interesting exercise and really highlighted my strengths and also areas where I can improve. Throughout the rest of the chapter, I kept coming back to two striking thoughts:

1. I have been learning so much but have not yet started to fully integrate this learning into my day-to-day teaching, even though I am thinking about it ALL the time!

2. There are only a handful of my colleagues actively using Twitter. Why?

‘Connected learning’ is defined in the book as being “about building professional networks to help you throughout your professional career, reflect deeply and prod others to do the same”. The networks I have established over the past eighteen months are certainly helping me and I am definitely reflecting more deeply now than ever before. But I haven’t yet started prodding others to do the same. I’ve given a gentle nudge or two, but maybe I could be doing more.

Chapter Two focuses on connected learning in communities. Outlining a three-pronged approach to professional development. 

On reflection, I have always maintained purposeful connections with the people I work with (the first ‘prong’). My local community, i.e. my school, is my professional learning community (PLC) and has always been a source of knowledge throughout my career. Whether directed by administration or not I have always been open to discussions about teaching and learning, focusing on student achievement. 

It has really been my global network that has flourished in recent months. Actually, it was non-existent save for a few emails to ex-colleagues dotted around the world. Twitter and Feedly changed my professional life forever. My PLN (personal learning network) has grown dramatically and is now an integral part of my daily routine. The best part about this ‘prong’ is that it is designed by ME. I choose what I want to learn about. I follow people on Twitter, I subscribe to blogs. It is my own tailor-made, individualized professional development. Valuing this individualistic part of my development really makes me think about how students need this too.

Anyway, two out of three ain’t bad, so they say. 

The third ‘prong’, the bounded community, is what I am working on developing now. I join the Twitter #pypchat every two weeks to ‘talk’ to fellow practitioners about various topics focused around the PYP (IB Primary Years Programme). Tweets fly through cyberspace for an hour and it is hard to keep up sometimes, but there is an infectious buzz of educators dedicated to collaboration, innovation and reflection. I intend to find other ‘communities of practice’ and maybe even organise one myself.

That’s as far as I’ve got so far… page 35. So, I’m going to keep reading, keep learning, keep reflecting… and I’m going to try to keep out of my comfort zone for as long as I can. 

Because I don’t want to stumble and fall.

Works cited:

Nussbaum-Beach, Sheryl and Ritter Hall, Lani. The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age. USA: Solution Tree Press. 2012

Image:

Hodgson, S. The Connected Educator Book Cover. 2012

#Learning #Reading #Thinking #Twitter #connected