Being a Connected Teacher

I have been extremely lucky in my career to have supportive teams to work with. I can see how teaching is lonely. For one it’s day in and day out of being “on” with students, barely getting time to eat lunch, and finding days where I realized I didn’t even get to use the bathroom let alone have a conversation with another adult. Having a team of educators for support, raise new ideas, and problem solve is invaluable. It helps us to become better educators. When I was first in education I worked directly with other math teachers. They taught me so me how to teach math skills in multiple ways, helped me create projects, and all of the administrative portions of teaching. My next position was with an alternative school and there was 4 teachers and one director. We became like an orchestra, ebb and flowing from student to student helping them with their specific educational needs in order for them to gain successes and graduate. They had my back, created personalized plans for each student, and helped me grow as a teacher. I am now a high school counselor. We have 8 counselors at the high school. We rely on each other as each has their own specialty. But is this enough? All teachers do not have the gift of good educational teams as I have. What else can educators do to make connections?

I do not do this but, tweeting is one option of reaching out to the world of educators. I really don’t understand that social technology but, from the research I did you can follow well respected educators and go on chats. This would expand your team to educators around the world. Joining Edcap and professional organizations is another way of expanding your team. I am a member of ASCA and ASCD. ASCA is specifically for school counselors and has a platform for us to reach out to each other in blogs and chats. ASCD creates SmartBriefs which are journal articles and blogs. It is a great way to expand my team and communicate with other educators. Reaching out to other educators in other schools is also a way for teachers to form connections. Lastly, I believe it is important to stay connected with fellow classmates. I have colleges, professors, and classmates who I stay in touch with and it has created a great resource for me.

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