teachers who don't share ~ Wait, do what??

I was told by one teacher that good teachers don’t share.

This sentence from Steven Anderson and Tom Whitby, The Relevant Educator, struck a chord with me.

How can an educator NOT share their best practices, their failures, and their successes with other educators?!

When I started using Twitter, I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew there was a lot of information out there for me, at the time a 2nd grade teacher. I had the opportunity to hear Will Richardson and David Warlick speak at MECA (MS Educational Computing Association), and their keynotes got me excited about and pondering education. This excitement forced me to dive into Twitter even more. Today, I am able to connect with authors, edtech leaders, fellow technology integrators, teachers, and administrators. I share what I know and learn about what they know. I am connected!

So I go back to my question... How can an educator not want to be connected and share?!

- the unknown
- time

These are two big reasons I see as obstacles for educators becoming connected, or more connected.

So what can I do to help, I don't know just yet but for the moment I will continue to share my excitement and story of why it's so vital to be a connected educator.



These were my thoughts while flying to FETC 2015 in January. I wanted something to read and decided to download The Relevant Educator.  Little did I know that download and the Twitter post about it would lead to some YAY moments for me!  That is another blog post though!

While at FETC, I had the opportunity to hear the authors, Steven and Tom, discuss the book.  There are days that I don't feel very relevant at all, but then there are others.

The statement "I was told by one teacher that good teachers don't share." still makes me wonder. Why are teachers afraid to share.  Are they afraid of coming off as bragging? Are they afraid someone will criticize their work?  I do not have the answer to those questions and I really wish I did!

Sharing is not a bad thing.  Just look at how many teachers share items on Teachers Pay Teachers! Look at all of the teachers on Twitter who share on a daily basis.  Sharing is not a bad thing.

How can we get teachers to realize when they share with others, they are growing and helping someone else grow too.

- the unknown
Sometimes you just have to jump into the water feet first!  Everyday is an unknown, especially with the introduction of new innovations. Just today, I saw a video for Corning Glass.  WOW! We have to embrace the unknown, cautiously embrace the unknown, and make it known.

- time
Well, Brad Currie wrote a great blog post about 100 minutes a week.  Time is not a problem if you look at in smaller chunks.  Think of it just like you would a large pizza.  You can't eat the whole thing at once, you have to take small bites.  Do the same thing with becoming connected.

Open your classroom door and share something!

Eva Harvell

The Awesomeness of Twitter

Twitter is awesome! Twitter gives you the opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and share ideas. You get to connect, create, and collaborate with people miles and hours away from you.  If you are lucky, you get to meet those people you connect with virtually. I was lucky this week at FETC. I was able to connect with one of my Twitter friends, Melissa Edwards. Melissa and I connect with each other on Twitter as well as present for Simple K12.



This conversation allowed us to connect!  We talked, shared ideas, and even have some collaboration projects in mind. Had to not been for Twitter, I would have never met my new tech integration friend from North Carolina.

Melissa wasn't my only Twitter meet this week. I had the opportunity to meet the awesome leaders of #edtechchat and so many more at the #edtechchat Tweet Up. I got to put a real faces to the Twitter handles I talk to every week. I look up to these people as ed tech leaders and when I would say "Hi, I'm Eva" they would say hey I know you and comment about what I say on Twitter. That's just awesome to me!!

Because of Twitter, I caught to have a conversation with two authors about writing a book. I got to have a conversation with Kathy Schrock and Meg Ormiston. That made my night!

Because of Twitter, I get to learn from these ed tech leaders. Because of Twitter and FETC, I got to meet these ed tech leaders. All because I joined Twitter.

So what is your excuse? Why aren't you on Twitter?? What is stopping you from connecting with experts in education?

Is it an idea or just a thought?

I saw this Tweet today from FETC and immediately had to retweet it. This was such a quick reaction, that I didn't really think about the short, but powerful Tweet until later.

How many times do we get an idea, but we don't act on them?  I know I do! Take today for example. After working with a teacher on getting her Mimio up and running, I wondered how many other teachers in the district had the same issue. How many teachers in the district had an interactive device, but didn't have it setup yet? What more can I do to help? This self questioning led to my idea of offering 30-45 hands-on sessions after school hours for teachers who want to learn more. Even though this idea isn't something foreign to most people in my position, it had the potential to become a passing thought. It won't though, because of this one powerful Tweet.

Educators need to share their ideas, their talents, their expertise with others.  We need to stop closing the door and keeping to ourselves. We need to open the door and share our ideas as well as take the ideas of others.  Easier said than done!  Educators for so long have kept their trade secrets to themselves in order to have the best test scores.

Ugh...

By sharing my knowledge of Mimio with other educators, I can help change one assignment from paper/pencil to interactive.

Although the Tweet from the FETC is short, it is powerful and should be shared!

So.. what idea will you share today?