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Raise Your Hands (Techlearning blog)

Tags: community, learning, networking, professional, reflection, teaching, techlearning on 2008-03-31 and saved by31 people -All Annotations (0) -About

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but if all educators are not raising their hands almost each and every day when
asked, the talk about school change and 21st Century learning environments is
lost to the reality that the professionals that make up educations are not
professional learners and practitioners. They are simply rooted managers and
defenders of their out dated environments.
It is a push for teachers to stop waiting for the organization and become a
collaborative professional learner by changing fundamental behaviors inhibiting
this and embracing action items that will allow it to happen
Everyone can point to the myriad of daily "Must Dos" that prevent us from having
the time to learn. However, using that as a crutch for not learning is
inexcusable.
they didn't have time to improve upon their skill set? they didn't need to know
that? they didn't need to try anything new, challenge their current ideas, or
push beyond the norm? Would terms like prioritize, organize, time management,
etc. be part of our discussion? Many students have so many demands outside of
the school day that if we as educators are demanding their learning be 24/7,
shouldn't we be practicing what we preach?
In our ongoing struggle to engage our kids in learning, I believe we are
neglecting (or, even worse, deliberately preventing) one of our easiest and best
opportunities. If our goal is to bring our schools and classrooms into the 21st
century before that century ends, we need to take advantage of the large amount
of innovation that is already going on in many of our classrooms by allowing our
teachers to share it. And not just with others in their own schools and
districts, but with teachers around the world!" When teachers fail to share the
great things happening in their classrooms, they are failing their profession
and they are failing students".
When teachers are not sharing their practices, knowledge, and resources as
professional learners in a collaborative learning culture, it doesn't matter how
much learning is happening in the classroom or how great students see these
teachers. To me, they are not professionals and are just as guilty of
malpractice as the teacher down the hall refusing to change their outdated
practices.
When a collaborative learning culture is in place, the behavior of closing the
door and doing as one pleased is exposed. This exposure shows one of two things:
1. the teacher's practices are truly best practices and the teacher needs to
open the door as a professional learner so that others can learn and grow 2. the
teacher's practices are not at a high level and the teacher needs to open the
door as a professional learner so that s/he can learn and grow from others.
Be proud of your explorations. Let it be known what you are doing, why you are
doing it, and how others could join in with you. Talk about what you are
learning! Being open doesn't mean being vulnerable! Share your blog and wiki
with pride! Focus on collaboration and networking with all you do and bring your
colleagues along kicking and screaming if need be. Thus, your action item is to
share your blog, wiki, social bookmarks, and learning experiences with as many
people as possible in order to promote local collaboration and networking.