There are so many opportunities out there to connect with fellow educators online and collaborate all across the world. As a teacher, we are often surrounded by colleagues that are terrific team members and committed to supporting each other. But sometimes the answers we seek and the ideas we need don't come from within our school walls. Online social networking sites offer teachers a chance to make connections with like-minded professionals, in order to further teaching practice and share resources.
There are many platforms out there to link with other teachers, it is simply a matter of choosing one (or several) and investing the time to learn about that site's features and possibilities. I am currently a member of LinkedIn, Curriculum 21, Facebook, and Twitter as an educator and I have contacts and an online profile that allows other educators to connect with me.
For the online writing component that I am currently undertaking, there are countless ways to network with people and build your "brand." Improving your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can be done with any number of strategies and tips including; keyword placement, subscribing blog directories, writing guest blogs and comments to the posts of others, and online discussion forums. As you can see from the badges down the sides of this blog site, I belong to a number of blog directories that have catalogued "Ignite. Incite. Inspire." as a blog that users can stumble across or have it suggested to them as 'like' another blog.
I am adding this "blogging" paragraph to this post, as I see huge potential in blogging with our students as class writing. Providing online feedback and increasing global readership from student-to-student is one of the current ways that we can hook reluctant writers and engage our classes in meaningful discussions with peers from around the globe. As soon as school districts are able to hammer down current, reflective and sound online privacy and digital citizenship policies, this forum for writing will explode on the scene as the next lined paper notes.
Overall, teachers are busy and time is always in demand. In order to facilitate discussions with global colleagues and seek out advice about pedagogy and teaching strategies, it will take time, and therefore, commitment. However, so far I have been able to connect with curriculum developers, private educational businesses, psychologists, former principals and superintendants, radio personalities, authors and of course, current teachers. This online networking experience has (and will continue to) allow me to seek out "cutting-edge" ideas and consider revolutionary practices that will help to further my own teaching or help to lead others in changing how we reach students and find that "carrot" that will drive their learning (a reference to one of my first blog posts "The Carrot."
Showing posts with label online writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label online writing. Show all posts
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Find Your Epiphany
I am not a megalomaniac. But I do have a path. Since starting this blog and sharing my ideas, there has always been one topic that I have grappled with discussing. I'll allude to it in this post. Since the summer I have been re-acquainted with my passion for writing. I spent a good part of the summer reading books on writing and publishing. My brain has been fixated on the prospects of changing my path - because of a change.
I want this post to read as a do-it-yourself for resilience and hope. With teachers being told their teaching placements for next year in the coming weeks; I want to offer my own example in hopes that you can rise above anything you are given. Last year my teaching assignment was drastically changed to one that I had not anticipated or planned for. My leadership role within the school was removed without discussion. I have had one year to make sense of this change.
As an individual faced with a decision, you have to prioritize everything. I created a hierarchy with my family at the top. Just as I believe anyone else would do; I chose them. Since being placed in my current assignment, I have taken 3 additional qualification courses that amounted to completing extra course work in 9 out of the last 13 months. I have just registered for my next course to begin early next month. Professional knowledge and qualifications is the first path to which I am blazing a trail.
I have excelled at my new teaching placement and certainly found the positives and benefits to my own pedagogy by being the teacher in that room. But, I was never in doubt of the value of teaching a special needs classroom. What I have been battling is the process that can take place to alter your entire view of education through one sweeping action - or in this case - one chart on a page.
The second path that I am exploring is one of leadership in and about teaching. I have just earned a place on our Federation's County Bargaining Team during the next round of contract negotiations, and am thrilled at the prospects of being part of meaningful discussions and change in the quality of the teaching profession in this district. Simultaneously, I have created a downloadable resource page for teachers ("Teaching Ideas and Resources"), started this educational critique as a blog ("Ignite. Incite. Inspire.") and have started writing teaching-related articles for Suite101.com as a "State of Education" writer.
The final path for me is writing. All of these experiences build to a creative climax when I sit down to put my thoughts on (virtual)page. I have joined "The Red Room" (a social media site that connects writers) and numerous educational forums (edubloggers, linkedin groups) in an attempt to network and steer the craft. I hope to enter some of my writing in "The New Quarterly" for an upcoming essay/poetry contest and will try to have some of my writing published in teaching-related magazines if possible. .
I am reaching out in three different directions - and all the while I am inspired by the choice.
I have something to offer the world - and so do you. Despite your placement, working conditions, family situation or life hang-ups; I can attest that you direct your fate and next move. "Do not go gently into that good light. Rage, Rage,"[when faced with fight or flight]. I could not be doing what I am without the incredible support of my amazing wife (Chy-Anne) and a mounting group of friends and professionals that give me strength in words to convince me that posts like this are non-negotiable. This is transparency and I welcome the dialogue.
I am in the John Nash moment where the world fades out and he sees the mathematical links in the situation. I am George Malley consuming books and moving objects. I am Mark Zuckerberg furiously programming a revolutionary program. I am in that moment that everything seems to make sense in an unbelievably simple way. I am a writer that happens to teach and a teacher that happens to write. This is my epiphany and I will drag it on as long as I can; if that is what it takes to find the right path.
I am not a megalomaniac. But I do have ambitious goals and something unique to offer the world. I will not be a passenger in my own life. I am driving the ship now and will plan my own route.
Find your epiphany and build your brand. You are the best at what you do at any given moment. If the people that matter are lining the path with you; the ones who don't matter will be pushed aside and forced to consider you in a different light. You have lined my path up till now; I hope I can return the favor when the time is right for you.
I want this post to read as a do-it-yourself for resilience and hope. With teachers being told their teaching placements for next year in the coming weeks; I want to offer my own example in hopes that you can rise above anything you are given. Last year my teaching assignment was drastically changed to one that I had not anticipated or planned for. My leadership role within the school was removed without discussion. I have had one year to make sense of this change.
As an individual faced with a decision, you have to prioritize everything. I created a hierarchy with my family at the top. Just as I believe anyone else would do; I chose them. Since being placed in my current assignment, I have taken 3 additional qualification courses that amounted to completing extra course work in 9 out of the last 13 months. I have just registered for my next course to begin early next month. Professional knowledge and qualifications is the first path to which I am blazing a trail.
I have excelled at my new teaching placement and certainly found the positives and benefits to my own pedagogy by being the teacher in that room. But, I was never in doubt of the value of teaching a special needs classroom. What I have been battling is the process that can take place to alter your entire view of education through one sweeping action - or in this case - one chart on a page.
The second path that I am exploring is one of leadership in and about teaching. I have just earned a place on our Federation's County Bargaining Team during the next round of contract negotiations, and am thrilled at the prospects of being part of meaningful discussions and change in the quality of the teaching profession in this district. Simultaneously, I have created a downloadable resource page for teachers ("Teaching Ideas and Resources"), started this educational critique as a blog ("Ignite. Incite. Inspire.") and have started writing teaching-related articles for Suite101.com as a "State of Education" writer.
The final path for me is writing. All of these experiences build to a creative climax when I sit down to put my thoughts on (virtual)page. I have joined "The Red Room" (a social media site that connects writers) and numerous educational forums (edubloggers, linkedin groups) in an attempt to network and steer the craft. I hope to enter some of my writing in "The New Quarterly" for an upcoming essay/poetry contest and will try to have some of my writing published in teaching-related magazines if possible. .
I am reaching out in three different directions - and all the while I am inspired by the choice.
I have something to offer the world - and so do you. Despite your placement, working conditions, family situation or life hang-ups; I can attest that you direct your fate and next move. "Do not go gently into that good light. Rage, Rage,"[when faced with fight or flight]. I could not be doing what I am without the incredible support of my amazing wife (Chy-Anne) and a mounting group of friends and professionals that give me strength in words to convince me that posts like this are non-negotiable. This is transparency and I welcome the dialogue.
I am in the John Nash moment where the world fades out and he sees the mathematical links in the situation. I am George Malley consuming books and moving objects. I am Mark Zuckerberg furiously programming a revolutionary program. I am in that moment that everything seems to make sense in an unbelievably simple way. I am a writer that happens to teach and a teacher that happens to write. This is my epiphany and I will drag it on as long as I can; if that is what it takes to find the right path.
I am not a megalomaniac. But I do have ambitious goals and something unique to offer the world. I will not be a passenger in my own life. I am driving the ship now and will plan my own route.
Find your epiphany and build your brand. You are the best at what you do at any given moment. If the people that matter are lining the path with you; the ones who don't matter will be pushed aside and forced to consider you in a different light. You have lined my path up till now; I hope I can return the favor when the time is right for you.
Friday, February 11, 2011
My journey begins
Over the past two weeks I have invested a great deal of time and energy to 'feeling out' the waters of online writing. There is a huge potential to do what I enjoy and share it online in a fairly straightforward manner. Over the past 16 days I have managed to expand this writing venture into several spreading directions. This blog is now connected to blogger.com, blogtopsites.com and blogged.com. In addition, the School Board I work for has posted this blog as a link on their new social networking site (www.scdsbnetworkedlearning.com). I have sent emails to friends to let them know and posted links on my Facebook page to this blog. In short, I have put myself out there and am eager to see where this all could lead...
My latest venture began yesterday. I started a "Fan Page" for my blog, "Ignite. Incite. Inspire." attached to my Facebook account. I am still in the process of figuring out how to actually suggest this page to my friends so that they can have easier access to what I am writing. I have tried this twice, but no page suggestions seem to be going out to my friends yet. Also, when I signed up for a "blogtopsites.com" account there was an option to connect to my Facebook account (which I took advantage of). What this means is that my blog posts here are automatically sent as a feed and posted on my Facebook Wall. People can now read my posts without having to navigate to another website (if they don't want to). In the process of adding this Facebook stuff I came across an online writing community that allows people to post articles on their site and have advertisement revenue directed back to them as a royalty. My application was approved by an editor and today I sent my first article to the "Education" editor to be posted (hopefully tomorrow sometime). If you want to read what I am writing on this site the address is http://suite101.com. I will post a link on this blog page in the sidebar to easily access these posts too. To me, this website is a more structured and serious writing opportunity to voice my opinions on things teaching and beyond.
Who knows what could happen here? I guess the message is to put everything behind a goal. I have the goal to post to this blog everyday - and so far have been successful. I would like to consider more serious writing opportunities and am thinking about entering a writing contest through "The New Quarterly Online (http://www.tnq.ca). In the end, I would like to believe that I tested the waters and will come out of it with something gained. I love teaching and this would add a love of writing about a topic that I have (and continue to ) experience daily as an educator. This post adheres to advice that a former leader gave me in the fall, "Be transparent. People will respect you for it and always know where you stand." This is all sides of me and writing in a so-far 16-day relationship.
My latest venture began yesterday. I started a "Fan Page" for my blog, "Ignite. Incite. Inspire." attached to my Facebook account. I am still in the process of figuring out how to actually suggest this page to my friends so that they can have easier access to what I am writing. I have tried this twice, but no page suggestions seem to be going out to my friends yet. Also, when I signed up for a "blogtopsites.com" account there was an option to connect to my Facebook account (which I took advantage of). What this means is that my blog posts here are automatically sent as a feed and posted on my Facebook Wall. People can now read my posts without having to navigate to another website (if they don't want to). In the process of adding this Facebook stuff I came across an online writing community that allows people to post articles on their site and have advertisement revenue directed back to them as a royalty. My application was approved by an editor and today I sent my first article to the "Education" editor to be posted (hopefully tomorrow sometime). If you want to read what I am writing on this site the address is http://suite101.com. I will post a link on this blog page in the sidebar to easily access these posts too. To me, this website is a more structured and serious writing opportunity to voice my opinions on things teaching and beyond.
Who knows what could happen here? I guess the message is to put everything behind a goal. I have the goal to post to this blog everyday - and so far have been successful. I would like to consider more serious writing opportunities and am thinking about entering a writing contest through "The New Quarterly Online (http://www.tnq.ca). In the end, I would like to believe that I tested the waters and will come out of it with something gained. I love teaching and this would add a love of writing about a topic that I have (and continue to ) experience daily as an educator. This post adheres to advice that a former leader gave me in the fall, "Be transparent. People will respect you for it and always know where you stand." This is all sides of me and writing in a so-far 16-day relationship.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)