Summer for a lot of educators is time to attend professional development and conferences. As summer is wrapping up (for me it’s over, I went back to school last week) are you reflecting on what you are learning? What are you sharing from the conferences you have attended?

I worry that a lot of times as connected educators and/or presenters we focus on what we present and forget to take the time to learn. I’ve seen more “had a blast presenting/working with so-and-so” twitter/facebook/instagram posts than I have “—- made me think” or “My reflection of —-” this summer. When that’s the majority of posts I see from conferences I start wondering what I’ve missed out on. The beauty of being a connected educator during conference season is seeing what others are learning and hearing their views. That’s how I got connected on twitter almost 6 years ago. I joined twitter in Sept but didn’t get hooked until EduCon when seeing people post their opinions and reflections as well as notes from sessions. It was huge for me to follow an entire conference, 1,000 miles away. I’m not seeing that as much as I used to. Now I see conference hashtags and know who’s hanging out with who or who’s presenting, not what’s being presented. I miss it. A lot.

Thursday was my second day of school. I was exhausted and just kind of wanting to see what others were learning or thinking. I needed motivation. I looked on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook looking for this. Only posts I saw were about who people were having GHOs with or presenting with or working on projects with, but nothing on what they learned or even what they taught others beyond a title. What are we teaching each other when doing this?

I’m guilty of this just as much as everyone else. I’m reflecting here on my summer postings as well. I’ve posted about having a GHO and not talked about the learning or conversation that was had. That’s not using the medium wisely. I have been wrong. How can I speak to others in my district or online about the power of being a connected educator if we aren’t using this medium to share what we are learning from each other? Hard to say “look at the power of the medium” when not practicing what I preach.

I apologize for being that person. Who would’ve thought the chick who beats herself up on her blog has become egotistical on twitter? I am making a promise now to not tweet who my friends are but what they are teaching me. I am also challenging you to share what is important. Share quotes from one another, share what others have taught you that has changed your thinking, tell us the main points of your presentations. I’m looking forward as this school year is beginning again to learn from each of you. I look forward some of you challenging my thinking and my teaching.

I hope my honesty doesn’t upset y’all, I love y’all. I just want to change my behavior and would like some of you to help me along with it. Call me out when I go back to that.