Connection #3 Why I Choose to be a Teacher Leader #SAVMP

I feel funny in ways saying teacher leader. Being the leader implies that there are some that must follow. In fact, here is a great video in what it takes to be a leader.  I think inspirer would be a better term. 

Yes, I work on being a Teacher Inspirer everyday. Somedays, I am better at it than others. I would define an inspirer as one whom:

1. Helps others find and develop their Passion

2. Discover their WHY

3. Embraces Innovation

4. Consistently Coaching 

5. A Relective Practitioner

6. Responsive Listener

7. A Multiplier

While this list is not exhaustive, it is what I aspire to be! My hope for all schools is that they are places the students and teachers alike learn and grow. Where climate and culture are healthy and strong. In schools with a community of learners (and teachers are learners too!) which embrace risk taking and innovation. I yearn for schools that let go of the boundaries of the walls and are open to authentic interactions with peers and experts around the globe. I desire to be a part of effecting such change. 

As an ITS, being no longer in the classroom and not yet in an admin role, my question to myself is, which way do I go? Do I head in the direction of campus admin or continue on my journey in the EdTech realm? I'll be honest, I see more opportunities to grow in admin, but my passion is technology in education. My love is children.

WonderN which way to go and knowing this #SAVMP experience will lead me on a pathway I can't even imagine!

Onward on this Journey,

Christina

Image can be found @ aeblaauw.wordpress.com

Connection #2 Failure is Always an Option

My goal this year is to become better at Failing. I mean, I'm already good at it. Over the course of this year I have failed so many times its hard to count...I'll describe a few below.

1. I started a new job and while that is totally an EPIC win, my classroom grew from 22, 5 and 6 year olds to 2 campuses of teaching staff. This was a daunting task of building relationships, in a new district, which was just implementing CSCOPE. Teachers were so overwhelmed, it was all I could do to suggest a new tech tool. But this year it will be better, an opportunity to try again and fail better.

2. I ran for School Board in my kids school district. I put up signs, I talked to the locals about it, even created a FB page....but that wasn't enough. I didn't know enough folks and in the end, placed 3rd in the election, out of 3. HA Fail! As if that wasn't enough, when one of the existing school board members decided to step down a month after the election, I received a phone call from the Superintendent, a very nice man and has my support on any given day, whom asked me if I would be interested in filling the vacancy. But there was a catch, the gentleman that placed 2nd had also agreed. The board would make the final call. Not in my favor, Another Failure. If I would have never tried, I would have never failed, TWICE;)

3. The Friday of Memorial Day weekend, May 24th, a day I will never forget. My son and I were driving home from going to the market, exited the highway onto the service road, and Bam!, just like that, in an instant, we were involved in a head on collision. It was the other gentleman's fault for failure to yield to oncoming traffic. My son was ok, thankfully, and a friend of ours saw the accident scene and stopped to help...for that I will be forever grateful. The point is, this was another fail. Yes it was out of my control, but for the next month I was in recovery mode, having suffered from a concussion. I couldn't focus at home or work and was convinced that I was never going to feel quit right...

The point to this post is that if we never try, we will never fail. And as David Guymon, the author of If You Can't Fail It Doesn't Count, points out, "Challenges make more sense once they have happened."

And they do, of course the do;). These failures, albeit one was out of my control, drive my passion and fuel my fire to Fail and #FailSoHard that all I can do is dust myself off and try again and try better and with more purpose than before! 

Nobody likes to Fail, but isn't it necessary for us to grow?

The implications in education resonate for me as well..

1) Is it so bad when a student fails a test? Try a portfolio to measure growth instead.

2) Is it so bad when a lesson fails? Reflect and grow with your PLC or PLN.

3) Is it so bad when a tech lesson fails? Learn from it, don't give up.

We fail our students when we don't solve problems as a class, when we don't use wait time, when we use paper pencil instead of hands on, when we teach to a test. 

We fail our students when we are not mindful to reflect on a daily basis, when we don't connect with fellow educators and we don't allow our learners to connect with other classes around the globe.

Now is the time to do as Samuel Beckett suggests and 

Try Again and Fail Better

Not afraid of FailiN cuz it happens a little (or a lot) every day,

Christina

Connection #1

I'm an introvert...there I said it. A quiet personality, slow to warm some would say. A fervent observer, watching others, learning social norms and blending in...Yes this describes me. I don't feel I stand out in any one way or another and was taught to speak when spoken to and that children are to be seen and not heard. That was my upbringing and a record that plays in my brain to this day.

But I am not an introvert when speaking about my passion, education. I am a former SPED and Kindergarten teacher and currently an Instructional Technologist. I love technology and its ceaseless ability to connect us to others. In a crazy way it allows me to connect with others, especially via Twitter and have conversations that I would have a hard time doing face to face (an area for me to work on, I know). 

So tonight I am making this connection, and creating a new habit, blogging. If I have learned anything this Summer through my experiences at #ISTE13, Twitter and #Edcampfwtx, it is the power of connecting with other like minded educators in meaningful ways. 

If I can't do it face to face this a a good way to start!

Quietly,

Christina