Thursday, April 5, 2012

New Connections

Welcome to my new blog, The Principal-Arc! As I was perusing my little used Twitter account a few months ago, I sifted through what all of the Steeler players had to say, then I checked out what some recording artists & movie stars were tweeting, and finally I came to a post by another educator.  It must have been retweeted by a colleague who I happened to follow years ago when I created the account.  There was a link to an article on using Twitter to develop your Personal Learning Network.  At first I was sure they must be wrong because twitter is just a place where you find out who is brushing their teeth or what Ashton Kutcher thinks about world events.  But, to my surprise, as I dug deeper I found that there is a whole world of educators out there posting and sharing with one another.  I was enthused!

I began to follow other educators and I found something that was missing in my professional life: Connections.  As an elementary school principal in a smaller district it is easy to remain nestled in the comfort of those with whom you work on a daily basis.  I must be clear that I work with some phenomenal educators; however, after awhile there is clearly some homogenization of thought and practice that can occur.  What I needed was new ideas, new thoughts, new challenges, new practices, new conversations, new CONNECTIONS!  Twitter has provided that for me.  I am now connected to over 100 educators (quite a small amount compared to some) who allow me to nurture my need for connection and for new and exciting ideas.

Twitter has become my favorite and most effective form of professional development.  It is there whenever I have time.  I can find just about any topic that I want by typing in a search term or a hashtag and if I have a question, I can pose it to those who follow me and to larger groups through the use of the aforementioned hashtags.  The wonderful thing about it is I am getting this PD from experts in the field and by that I mean people just like you and me, practitioners who care enough about the profession to share their knowledge and the resources they have found.  What do they ask in return?  Only that I do the same.

During my short time using Twitter to develop my PLN, I have connected with some amazing educators who are working to develop a strong network of practitioners in my home state of New Jersey.  The hashtag for this group is #njed.  I highly recommend following the folks in this group as they are truly committed to being the best teachers and administrators possible.  Some handles to follow include: @ischoolleader @NMHS_Principal @sirotiak02 @wkrakower @jerseyteacher @AJBianco @pottsedtech @danielle6849 @davezirk @DrSpikeCook.  This is only a few of the people who are sharing amazing things.  Check them out and the rest of the #njed contributors.  Also, this group has bi-weekly chats at 8:30pm on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month.

I have to say that some of the Twitter contributors that I began following in the beginning truly made the difference in my decision to continue down this road into the Twitter-verse.  Some of these include: @l_Hilt @WiscPrincipal @PrincipalJ @shannoninottawa @mcleod @ransomtech @j_Bednar @21stprincipal @stevehargadon @NMHS_Principal @ijukes @Cantiague_Lead @Joe_Mazza.  This list is only partial, as well, but anyone wishing to begin a PD journey on Twitter would do well to follow the educators above.

One more thought for an already too long first blog post... Once you engage in this form of professional development, it is hard to see yourself sitting through traditional In-Service days or traditional conferences.  I foresee making these events more personalized and taking charge of my own learning.  If I go to a national convention, I would get involved to make it more differentiated for those of us who prefer this type of learning.  Additionally, I am planning to attend several EdCamp "unconconferences."  Next Month, I am going to EdCamp Philly and in July I am attending EdCamp Leadership.  These conferences are attendee driven and revolve around the expertise and needs of those at the conference rather than canned programming.  I am also working with the #njed folks to bring an EdCamp to our state!

Thank you for reading my blog and completing my arc.  Please leave a comment if you are so moved.




10 comments:

  1. Awesome first post! I have often said, I get more information in a day from Twitter than I do in a month of Grad classes! (and by this I do not mean to slight my classes, which are great). You have a great list of educators on here. I, too, look forward to our proposed edcamp! If it is half as good as educon it will be wonderful! There are so many great teachers on Twitter, and I love trying out new ideas. I have also found twitter to be great for finding partners to try new projects with.

    And while I LOVE meeting NJ educators, I also love finding teachers from around the world to learn from. Some of my favorites? @bucharesttutor @courosa @shareski @shannonmiller @chrislehmann @mgraffin @annloseva @salcontes @kylepace @ericentrup #rkiker @shellterrell @kellydillon1 and @gcouros. All excellent educators and tweeps! I could go on all day!

    -@danielle6849

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    1. Danielle,

      Thanks for the comment. It seemed like blogging was the next logical step. If you are looking for teachers to partner with, I am sure that some of mine would be interested. Let me know. Also, I follow some of the folks that you listed at the end, but will check out the rest. Thanks!

      Bruce

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  2. Great post, Bruce! I get so much from my PLN too. I hope you are having a great year and find a few geocaches too.

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    1. Jason,

      Thanks for the comment. Hopefully, NAESP is coming around to this type of learning so that when I finish my Ed.D. work and want to go back it will be what I need it to be. Unfortunately, I haven't done much geocaching, but I found a way to get an entire afternoon out doing it in the next couple weeks. Our PTO had a school auction to raise money for technology integration and all of the staff auctioned off an experience. I auctioned off an afternoon of geocaching with me for a student, 3 friends, and a parent. So, I will be out soon! Take it easy.

      Bruce

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  3. I really enjoyed reading this post! I could not agree more with everything you've shared here! I actually have a similar blog post in the works because since I joined Twitter, my professional life has changed on so many levels. Like you, I don't know that I could picture myself sitting through in-service courses when almost everything I want to learn is out there in Twitter-verse! Nicely done - a great read!

    @Cantiague_Lead (Tony)

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    1. Tony,

      Believe it or not, the direct message conversation that you and I had about reading instruction and other things a while back was actually the first time I had interacted on Twitter with anyone for more than a post or two. It helped me get more comfortable and eventually led me to join in on some chats. I look forward to more sharing. Let me know if you want to partner with a school on any projects. I am sure some of my teachers would love to do so.

      Bruce

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  4. This was a really great post! I think it was very powerful how you discussed your connections. I am sure that your teachers and students are benefiting from your arc!

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  5. Dr. Cook,

    Thanks for the comment and thanks for getting my pun on my name, the title of the blog, and electrical connections. I wasn't sure if it was just too much:-) I definitely value the connections I have made and am making on Twitter. The enthusiasm of the participants is very sustaining and invigorating. I hope all is well down in SJ. Say hello to Pamm for me. By the way, I see from your Twitter bio that you are in Turnersville. I used to live in a development off Fries Mill Road, just past Williamstown and in Clayton. I spent a lot of time in Turnersville.

    Bruce

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  6. Bruce,

    Like you, I previously became more in tune with the professional benefits of Twitter. I am continually amazed at the resources and ideas that can be shared with my colleagues to make instruction more engaging and meaningful for students.

    It is interesting to see the obstacles others are facing with restrictions on technology for students. Sometimes change is a gradual process, but there are so many resources that are worth exploring. I appreciate you sharing your journey and I look forward to crossing paths with you along the way. Best of luck to you!

    Kimberly Norton (@Nortonk_118)

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  7. Kimberly,

    It is funny how people react when you say that you are participating in phenomenal PD on Twitter. They react how I would have 6 months ago. One thing that I have to remember to temper is my desire to pass on all of the info to my staff. I don't want to hit them with resource overload. So, I am working to sift through the most important things that I cull from Twitter and other sources so that I can share useful tools that will make an immediate difference. Thanks for commenting on my blog. Stay tuned for more posts shortly.

    Bruce

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