The Process of Being Connected
Last October, Kentucky teachers explored how we connect to one another. As that month closed, I openly pondered why we connect; what purpose did/does connection serve? I used to think that being connected was a reflection of how tech-savvy an educator was or how many followers an educator had on Twitter. I had very little interest in joining that world. My concept of connectedness was shallow. I know now that connectedness is not an outcome, it is a process.
enhancing practice by being connected
My practice...hmm...what is my practice? I have several areas of practice. As a classroom practitioner (which is a term that we should all start using when referring to ourselves as classroom teachers), connectedness provides an informal but monumentally important Professional Learning Community (PLC). I can find other teachers, across the Commonwealth and across the nation, that are also teaching interdisciplinary ELA and Social Studies. We can share strategies and resources. I can find other practitioners that are using LDC rubrics to evaluate student writing. I can find practitioners using EQuiP rubrics to select Common Core resources. In a nutshell, I can self-select my PLC based on common-interests. And there is no limit on how many PLCs I join.
Another area of practice, and one that receives the lionshare of my connectivity, is finding ways to replicate my teacher leadership experience for Kentucky teachers...I want to see a tipping point; it is time that teacher leadership becomes a solutions-oriented Teacher Leadership Movement. We have the capacity to do that in Kentucky. The conditions are ripe.
In order to create this movement, we need to connect more practitioners to teacher leadership work. Throughout the state, there are amazing teachers identifying the adaptive challenges that face their students, their schools, their districts and the state. They are developing adaptive solutions to address local and statewide needs. They are working with administrators to shape student learning in their communities.
It is time that we connect those dots of excellence, leverage the intellectual capital of classroom practitioners and allow all educators and education policy makers to see the connection between all of these efforts. I see the purpose of my connectivity as being an active member of an ever-growing group of teachers seeking to bring more teachers to the teacher leadership table.
The flip side of the teacher connectivity coin is that we need more opportunities for emergent teacher leaders to dive deep into the work of redesigning student learning and professionalizing the teaching profession. There are teachers across the Commonwealth hungry for leadership opportunities. They have the dispositions of leaders. They simply need the time, support and resources necessary to gather leadership experience. Those of us that are connected have a responsibility to build the capacity of teachers that are either newly connected or have yet to connect. We are the barrier removers. We have been given opportunity and we are obligated to create opportunity.
connecting beyond Kentucky
I talk to Kentucky teachers from all over the state. I am consistently amazed at how little our teachers realize the role Kentucky plays in national conversations about effective teaching and learning, teacher leadership and education reform. When I connect with educators from around the country, whether virtually or face to face, I am asked the same question: What are you all doing in Kentucky? We are fast becoming the national model for radically improving teaching and learning. Few of our peers realize this. Those of us that are connected must take this message to Kentucky classrooms.
On a much more personal level, I have colleagues in every corner of the US (including Hawaii) and everywhere in between that I count as very dear. I support their teacher leadership work. They support ours. My virtual connectedness has helped me to identify my community of practice. When I have the great fortune of meeting my virtual peers face to face, it is a joyous occasion. We know each other. We know each other’s interests. We know each other’s body of work. We know each other’s colleagues. We are able to build momentum for the work in our home states. The deep sense of purpose and connectedness that I feel about my my peers’ efforts to redesign student learning and the teaching profession would be impossible to attain apart from me being a connected educator.
connecting to students
I used to see connectedness as an individualistic pursuit. Now, I see it as a collectivist activity. Connectivity impacts our profession. It destroys the culture of isolation that has plagued us all at times in our career. Connectivity also has a tremendous impact on our students. In light of the importance of current connectivity, how important is connectivity going to be a generation from now? It is our duty to not only expose students to technology that increases connectivity, but to allow students to become fluent and literate in the nuance of connective culture. To that end, three years ago I began asking for one to one tech for my classroom. A year ago, all of my students created google drive accounts (thank you Donald Piercey) and began the process of managing digital portfolios. This year they have one to one chromebooks (thank you Larry Caudill) and are managing all aspects of their learning process, from reflecting on their own formative and summative assessment data to interpreting the explicit and implicit skills within the ELA standards to designing units and performance assessment from the ground up.
When we talk about connectivity and we wear the label of connected educator, we are ambassadors of a collectivist culture that are shaping education redesign. Our students are changing. Their learning reflects that. Our profession is changing. Our connectivity reflects that.
We need to consider the how, why and what of being a connected educator now so that October 2015 can be the month when being connected is the norm instead of a celebrated status.
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