Your Story Is Important!

If you have not investigated YourEdustory – then you are missing out!  This darn graduate work has taken its toll on my blogging this semester and this space feels strangely neglected.  I have recently eeked out a couple of blogs based on some topics from class – but not written of my own free will in quite awhile.   Writing on my blog is important to me, I never thought I would feel this way.  I have grown accustomed to sharing my thoughts and ideas in the modest hope that something will trigger a small change here or there and impact students in the most amazing ways.

Back to YourEdustory – prompts for teachers by teachers to encourage blogging.  Remember, if you don’t share what you do, then you are letting others “assume” what is going on in your schools and classrooms.  If you don’t speak up for yourself, then that is a story that remains hidden from view.

SHARE YOUR STORY!  YOU ARE BRILLIANT AND AMAZING TEACHERS!  THE WORLD DESERVES TO KNOW YOU EXIST AND WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

So I am catching up.  Combing two weeks of YourEdustory blogging into one post.  Why?  Because I don’t know when I can do this again 🙂

Topic 1 (submitted by yours truly)

Share #1CoolThing that you have done so far this year.

This is the first year that I have not been in a high school classroom since the fall of 1997.  I am still teaching but now at the college level, I am also doing a lot of learning myself.

One of the classes that I have the opportunity to teach is for students in the College of Education at Oklahoma State University.  This class helps students learn how to incorporate educational technology into their teaching pedagogy.

They learn how to use infographics, how to blog, how to create customizable search engines, how to, how to, how to….With the hope that, as they start using these new technologies, they start to become more comfortable trying out new technologies.

How is this #1CoolThing?  Let me explain.  The students are divided into teaching teams, each week a different team teaches the specific technology.  They are creating the lesson plan.  They create the SMARTnotebook file.  They create the assessment.  I get to help, provide some guidance.  Cheer them on when they are on fire.  Correct them when they struggle.  Here is #1CoolThing – each week that goes by, the students are getting braver and more creative in their teaching.

They are not top flight, amazing teachers yet.  They are most definitely on the way.  As I am getting to know these students and watching how they are interacting with each other, I think to myself, “These kids are going to be amazing!”

They are coming up with such creative lessons!  They are stepping into the challenges!  They are not backing down!  This makes me happy!  We need this passion to filter into our schools, to make an impact on our students!

My #1CoolThing?  Watching these future teachers grow.  Its #amazeballs!

Topic 2 (Submitted by @ChristyFenne)

What does being “connected” mean to you?

When I was a new teacher, I was “connected” to the people in my building.  I had no school email.  I had AOL, but was still trying to figure out those darn chat rooms.  Forget using that stuff as a teacher!

The people that I was connected to, were people who poured into me, people I saw everyday.  They gave me ideas to try.  They helped me grow as a teacher.  New teachers that I was hired with, we helped each other!  We were connected through our struggles that first year.

I am still connected to Kevin, a high school English teacher in Edmond.  We were in the same hiring class at Guthrie High School in 1997.  Although time took us in different places, then back together, then into different spaces again – we remain connected!  I know that I can call Kev at two in the morning, although he may not answer….

Move forward to just a couple of years ago when I truly discovered how Twitter could be used by a teacher.  HOLY COW!  My level of connectedness started growing by factors of ten.  It led to opportunities to connect with Kas Nelson and Todd Garrison and Anthony Purcell!  There are so many others, I don’t want to offend by not listing them (they reside in #oklaed and are the most amazing people)…But I am connected!  I learn from people in other cities, other states, other countries!

So what does connected mean?  To me – relationships.  Its how we grow and get better as people and as teachers.  Its how we make a such a tremendous difference in the lives of our students.