Teachers that don’t share what they do
Teachers who work silently, don’t tweet, blog and discuss ideas with people around the world are obsolete. Teachers are no longer working locally but globally and it’s our job to share what we do and see what others are doing. If a teacher is no longer learning then he shouldn’t be teaching other people.
We should all be tweeting, blogging and sharing what works and doesn’t work, get and give advice to and from co-workers around the world. We should constantly be improving our craft because professional development isn’t a 3 hour workshop once a month but a lifelong process.
14 things that are obsolete in 21st century schools
| February 26, 2014
I’m beginning to acknowledge that I believe those teachers who avoid integrating social networks like Twitter, Pinterest, and Google Plus into their professional development are failing. I don’t think we can simply agree that it is a strategy choice anymore. Would we accept a classroom limited to workbooks and textbooks? I already struggle in my mind with the best response to colleagues who seem to suggest digital literacy taints the purity of learning in their classrooms. “Ban the devices that distract students from learning.” As if our students were not immersed in a culture saturated with such technologies. We essentially spent 60 years avoiding teaching people how to critically reflect on television, despite it being the prevailing literacy of three successive generations. Our professional development strategies must take advantage of technology. I’m loosing patience with the perception that “internet relations” are less authentic than face to face ones. My ongoing connected professional development is authentic, integrated into my practice, convenient, absorbing, and empowering. Why wouldn’t I value it? Why wouldn’t I choose to back channel at a conference or reach for my device when I need to share or learn?
