At the OTRK12 conference this year, keynote Ron Canuel challenged that we as educators need to be transparent and public about the great things we are doing in our schools. This not only serves the public interest and aids in professional sharing, but says to people looking to foster leaders "this person knows what they are doing."
Currently, my Twitter handle @troismartin serves both the usage of my Grade 3 students and my PLN interests. The tweets made by my students have illuminated their learning anonymously with the public, informed the parent followers of the learning in our classroom, gained Followers of their own in the education sphere around the world (which they LOVE) and inspired other professionals within my PLN to try out this tool or idea in their lives. Given the current climate in education, has it ever been more important to highlight the great things going on in our classes?
Professionally, this shared blog has allowed me access to connect with others on Twitter based on the good things they witness my kids doing. It is like the difference between having an egg profile pic and the real you. People want to connect with something real. Recently returned from ISTE2015, Pernille Ripp tweeted "the one word all the great PD there had in common was TRUST." By putting my work out there, sharing my student's voices and making them part of my PLN, I believe this transparency provides others a chance to decide to trust me or not. Is this account something to be followed.
I don't worry about my students seeing inappropriate content on my feed because this is a professional account, just as I don't worry I am not contributing enough to my PLN because they are connected to my class. This is a community of transparency. This is my Grade 3 Family who belong in my PLN.
No comments:
Post a Comment