This is a very interesting topic for me; I think that if we have learning at the core of what we do we also need to embrace lifelong learning. Throughout the Diplomado course we are taking in school and some of the discussions we had in class during the last few days I have only been able to reassure the importance of collaboration and exploration in the learning process. As Will Richardson states this is a fantastic time to be a learner and a challenging time to be an educator. We need to embrace the possibilities and look beyond the doors of our classroom and explore the world in the same way we encourage our students to do so. Technology provides us with the tool to access information, but accessing information is not good enough anymore, we need to be able to sort it, analyze it, share and create. We should no longer just consume information, we need to produce it as well and the best way of doing this is through collaboration and the development of a Professional learning network. (PLN) In order to enhance this PLN it is important to use the available tools and reach out to other educators. Through those connections we can learn, help others learn as well as discover things together, which will ultimately benefit all our students. We cannot see ourselves as islands anymore we need to embrace collaboration if we want to keep moving forward. Classroom doors are no longer closed and we should purposefully open them to this reality. We say that we are now in an age of a “networked” intelligence which is why I love Eric Hoffer´s quote: "In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." Eric Hoffer I would also like to share the following video which I find extremely usefull in explaining this topic
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The beginning of a new year is always an exciting time in every school... New students, new parents, new resources and off course new teachers. With those teachers, new to our school, we always face the challenge of providing meaningful and quality induction programs or professional development opportunities that would help them understand the way the school works as well as gain insights into the academic programs and curriculum expectations. Our school is no exception, and besides the need of clear induction programs to new teachers, we also face the challenge of providing meaningful professional development to our returning teachers. All the above is what got me thinking about professional development for our teachers. How should we plan for it? What's its purpose? Who should deliver it? Should it be the same for everyone? When is the best time during the year? Those questions and some more were the ones that made me go around my professional learning network (PLN) in order to find some of the answers or at least some ideas. In order to get started I browsed through some of the resources available in our curriculum mapping software, and there I found this interesting video from Janet Hale on curriculum mapping for administrators. In an extract she mentions the need of administrators "mapping" professional development in the same way in which we ask teachers to map their own curriculum. Very interesting perspective here! The above perspective, although very obvious, made me think about the importance of envisioning our teachers as learners. On the importance of switching the focus from the teaching, or in our case from the professional development towards the learning, towards "Professional Learning". This idea definitely enriched my perspectives and cleared my sense of purpose. It also made me realise that professional learning is not entirely in my hands as an administrator. So although we are still planning for many professional learning opportunities, especially designed taking into account our teachers needs, I have found many Blogs that reflect on teacher learning to share with you. Once you are done reading you will probably be more prepared to face the challenges of being a 21st century educator... Have a look and let me know what you think. You could even decide to take on board one of the ideas highlighted there and get your own PLN started. Let me know how it goes!!!!
So once you go through the resources below, decide on how to get started and maybe share some ideas with us through commentsmaybe you could also share some resources. Hope to hear from you Christianne Tomorrow is our first day back with students. Over the past week teachers in my school were all busy working hard in ensuring everything was ready for their students, the school looks amazing and we really can't wait to have our students back. Around the world many schools are also getting ready to start or have just started and all over the web we can see educators getting ready and sharing wonderful ideas on how to get the school year started. I have followed many of such educators and decided to post some of their ideas here for your reference. So here the best ideas and resources I found over the last few weeks...
Ok, it is time I get started.
Over the last few weeks and during the holidays, I have been browsing, reading and off course learning a lot through the internet and all those wonderful educators out there! In this process I have increased the number of tweets, followers and people I follow. I can say that I stopped just twitting about what is going on and started to tweet thoughts, sites and ideas I found interesting. This off course has increased the number of followers I have, and even got my own daily paper, Thoughts of the day started. All that seemed great, however over the past few days I came across one a Blog called How and why teachers should start blogging and after reading it I started to wonder if it was time to get this process started. After two minutes of wondering I decided that I should start, so here I go. So from now on I am not only multiplying information, I will start sharing thought, ideas and hopefully a little bit of inspiration to all those wonderful educators out there that have inspired me to get this process started. So to all my friends thank you for all your ideas and inspiration and I truly hope to become as good as you all in this blogging business. Wish me luck and continue sending me ideas! |
AuthorWife, mother of 3 wonderful girls, PYP teacher and now a Blogger. ArchivesCategories
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