Today kicks off the second half of Connected Educator Month.
I find great value in being a connected educator, regularly tapping into the information and social aspects of using the web for professional and personal growth. It has taken time, but has been worth it because it has transformed my practice and provided me with invaluable feedback and support. Most importantly it has linked me with other educators who opened up the world to me and my students. Twitter, Skype, even Pinterest have all become a part of how we connect and learn with each other.
Being connected can help you on your own path to becoming a lifelong learner and help you gain perspective and support from educators around the world. We now even have a month, Connected Educator Month, dedicated to helping educators understand the potential in being connected.
Connected Educator Month is an initiative from the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education and invites everyone in education to embrace being connected. The site from USDOE has a great calendar of events with almost 200 events scheduled for October. The topics range from Connecting & Collaborating in Elementary Classrooms to Connected Leadership to Digital Citizenship and more. There is a Connected Educator Month newsletter and a starter kit to help you learn more. Earlier this month, I hosted a webinar, Connecting & Collaborating in Elementary Classrooms, discussing this topic with Holly Clark and Beth Holland.
In addition to live events, Twitter is a great way to follow the events for Connected Educator Month – as well as to get connected. Educators across the globe are on Twitter learning, sharing and collaborating. If you are new to Twitter, you can check out this presentation –Introduction to Twitter for Educators. Once you get comfortable, go on at certain times and “follow” some chats by using a hashtag. Check out this schedule of Educational Twitter Chats to find a chat that would be meaningful to you. Connected Educator Month even has its own hashtag #ce13. Just click on the link or type it into the search at the top of the page on Twitter.
I hope you will join us as we share and learn together to strengthen education across the country. Make this your month to connect!
Quick Links
USDOE Connected Educator Site – http://connectededucators.org/
Calendar of Events – http://connectededucators.org/events/
CEM Newsletter – http://connectededucators.org/cem/cem-newsletter/
Getting Started Kit – http://connectededucators.org/cem/cem-getting-started/
Twitter Hashtag – #ce13
Transform Learning ~ written by Samantha Morra 