Kentucky Connected Educator Tricia Shelton

Boone County High School Science Teacher

Boone County Schools Teacher Leader

In what ways are you a connected educator?

Being connected is an essential part of my professional life.  Here are some snapshots of how I learn, share, collaborate, lead and grow as a connected educator.

A Week in the Life of a connected educator...

Sunday: Virtual meeting with my Minnesota teacher partner (who I met through Twitter) to plan our next NGSS learning progression for our classrooms connected through Schoology.

Monday: Adobe Connect meeting planning a webinar to support other teachers learning how to teach using the NGSS practices with two educators from Michigan (who I met through Twitter).

Tuesday: Lync session with KDE partners in developing an NGSS Multi Tools Online Community powered by teachers to support Kentucky’s implementation of the KCAS standards.

Monthly meeting with the Prichard Committee Student Voice Team via Google Hangouts to coach each other on our Op-Ed Drafts.

Wednesday: Google Hangout Meeting for our SBG PLC involving five educators representing 4 states who meet monthly to learn, share and support each other on our Standards -Based Learning road.

Thursday:  Twitter chats! Co- Moderate #NGSSchat after participating in #KyEdChat.

Friday:  Google Hangout Meeting with our classroom business and grant partner discussing our action research around video in the classroom.

Saturday:  Morning Twitter chats and asynchronous work on shared documents in google drive and website for Connected Classrooms. Write and post a blog.

Share our next reflection question for our NGSS voxer group.

Being connected enables me to partner with stakeholders in education across my state as well as across the nation as we work to grow and contribute to the national education conversation, learning and leading from the classroom.

How does being connected impact your practice in schools/classroom?

I connected myself to honor a request from my students to leverage social media in our action research around communicating thinking. Educators that are willing to be brave, embrace something new, and think outside of the traditional lens of what a classroom looks like can open up a whole new world for their students by flattening the four walls of the classroom.  After connecting  myself, I could connect my students and support them in building a personalized professional network for a lifetime of learning. We regularly learn and share with experts, scientists, and other students globally, and have an authentic global audience to share our thinking and our story.  Not only does connectedness support 21st Century Skills initiatives, it also enables and encourages a full partnership with students as both teacher and student discover ways to leverage social media and collaborations in the classroom. Students have so much knowledge and understanding of technology and social media.  The culture created with this partnership to connect ourselves and share our thinking, our voice and our story with the world has been a game changer for us.  In a brainstorming session to develop interview questions for our first videocast, the students shared the question “How can teachers help you develop technology skills”  I said in reply, “What about..How can students help teachers find new ways to use technology and social media to enhance learning?”  Their eyes lit up.  Being connected has empowered all of us, teachers, students and parents, to be true partners and lead others as we learn together and work for student achievement.

How does being connected impact you as a professional?

Since connecting myself in the summer of 2013, my professional career has undergone a transformation. The personal reflection, collective conversation and collaborations on both a virtual and face to face level, have resulted in tremendous personal growth and an opportunity to support other teachers on a national scale.  As the Week in the LIfe demonstrates, the connections I make on Twitter have not only supported changes to my instructional practice to enhance student learning; they have also led to deeper conversation and on-going collaborations to support my growth as an educator.  In the classroom, being connected has transformed our classroom to a 21st Century focused space where students are engaged, empowered and excited to learn and share.  Their mission now is to start a videocast to share our story to encourage more classrooms to do the same. This means a have a new focus to search for resources, ideas and support from my PLN to make this reality happen in my classroom.  For me, being connected means I have endless opportunities to learn and share in my quest to grow as a professional.

What advice or resources would you recommend to colleagues interested in becoming connected?

There are many ways to connect yourself.  The key component is that being connected is about personalized professional learning.  You can explore for a few minutes several times a week as a lurker, or use reflection, conversation, and collaboration as anchors of your professional experience. To get started, I love the #NT2T or the New Teachers to Twitter chat on Saturday mornings at 9 AM EST.  This group of educators is ready to answer questions and offer ways to leverage Twitter and also has a Google plus community  to provide support.  I also recommend the TweechMe app which has a quick Twitter course as well as a chat schedule and hashtag list.  As you can see from my Week in the Life, Twitter has been the doorway to deeper conversations and collaborations and a constant source of inspiration to fuel my passion to uncover new ways to support student learning.  Twitter is a great place to start your exploration of “being connected” and discover all of the ways you can leverage the technology at your fingertips to engage, enhance learning, share your voice, and lead by contributing to the conversation and supporting others. You can then be a model as you support those same opportunities for your students.  

Tricia's bio: 

Tricia Shelton is a High Science Teacher and Teacher Leader with a BS in Biology and MA in Teaching, who has worked for 19 years in Kentucky driven by a passion to help students develop critical and creative thinking skills. Tricia is a 2014 NSTA Distinguished Teaching Award winner for her contributions to and demonstrated excellence in Science Teaching. As a Professional Learning Facilitator and NGSS Implementation Team Leader, Tricia has worked with educators across the United States to develop Best Practices in the Science and Engineering classroom through conference presentations, webinars, coordinating and co- moderating #NGSSchat on Twitter, and virtual and face to face PLC work.  Tricia’s current Professional Learning Facilitation includes work around the Next Generation Science Standards and helping STEM students develop the 21st Century Skills of critical and creative thinking, collaboration and communication (including Social media and Video).