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.
Hey Amanda…
Your post really got me thinking & I am happy to say that over these last few weeks I have been trying to do exactly what you are talking about.
I am doing a bit of a blogging challenge… and for me the power is in the conversations that happen after you hit ‘publish’. So decided that as part of this challenge I would connect & respond on my colleagues blogs. I want my PLN to know that their voice matters. Best way to do it is to take the time to connect.
So here I am… thank you for posting & reminding each of us that it is the power in the connections that makes learning together so amazing!
Looking forward to learning with you my friend:)
I think the key might be to follow people who are new to Twitter. I have to say that I just started using Twitter two months ago. I most have followed teachers who are new themselves to Twitter and just happen to have fewer followers. For whatever reason, this has created a Twitter feed that is filled with people’s new learnings and new understandings. I see what you used to see. It is amazing and it is inspiring. I think sometimes that people who have been around Twitter for a while, miss these kinds of posts. I just wanted to say that they are still out there. People are still sharing their life-changing moments of learning. I am in awe of it and I am inspired by it and I hope you find it again too!
I was wondering about that too. If people new to the space are using it correctly. Thanks for your comment. I think you are correct. I’m struggling to get back to that point. It’s hard for me bc I don’t think ‘my’ PLN is there anymore. Kind of why I wrote the post. I would love to follow you, what’s your twitter name?
I really appreciate you being able to articulate this desire/frustration. As an educator both new to Twitter/Facebook and who works in an “informal learning environment” (historical site) and the only one doing what I do at the site, I am ecited/inspired by the collegiality that seems to be possible through social media but still want more of the nitty gritty.