How many times have you heard someone say that they don’t have time to be a ”connected educator”? It is the go to rationale for many.
Eric Sheninger spoke at #ASCD13 on the keys to initiating sustainable change and something he said that resonated with me was “I don’t find the time to learn and get better. I make the time to learn and get better.” While this did inspire a lively talk about unicorns, I completely understood what he meant.
Educators today are pulled in a dozen different directions daily. We’re expected to meet unrealistic goals and transform lives, daily, and most of the time? we’re able to do it. How can you fit any thing else in your day?
To me, being a connected educator isn’t an option, it’s how I’m able to function. I couldn’t possibly provide the answers, the options, the experience that I do without having a PLN of my very own. From conversations on the other side of the world to being able to ask 4,000 people their advice…being connected provides that opportunity.
I’m presenting at TEPSA this summer on being a “connected educator” and being able to articulate the value of what social media can bring to the table is almost overwhelming. I know how busy and stressed these administrators are. I’m busy and stressed too! Hopefully I’ll be able to show that we’re in a time where being connected isn’t an option any longer, and that the problem isn’t that education isn’t what it used to be…it’s that it IS what it used to be. Our students can’t afford any less than the most current, the most engaging, and the opportunities that being connected provides.
Plug in, you won’t regret it! Change can either happen to you or because of you…and what leader doesn’t want to be at the forefront of positive, impacting change?
suggestingly,
Amber
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