It’s Connected Educators Month – the first major celebration ever of the powerful potential for educator-driven professional learning in the Internet age.

Each Wednesday of this month (five in all) we’re featuring several posts written by our Voices from the Learning Revolution bloggers. This week, we’ve selected four more revolutionary voices from our collection of nearly 200 articles posted since March 2011. They, too, reflect the spirit and vision that underlay the USDOE-sponsored Online Communities of Practice project.

For regular updates about PLP’s involvement in CEM, be sure to visit the PLP blog.

 

Knocked Out of My Orbit: Becoming a 21st Century Educator

“I have long believed,” says teacher Susan Lucille Davis, “that the role of the teacher is to ask the best questions she can, and to help her students answer them. I also believe, more than ever, in empowering students and teachers with the attitudes and skills necessary to become change-agents in their own lives. That includes leveraging the powerful tools made available by new technologies to help students and teachers become co-creators of knowledge collaboratively and online.” Learn more

 

Thanks to our Faculty Ning Community, We’re Collaborating Like Never Before

Our Ning virtual community has connected our faculty in ways we never imagined,” reports elementary teacher Patti Grayson. “We wanted our teachers to connect and share, and share they did! As we got to know each other better, we began to feel a greater sense of community and common purpose. Our faculty can now easily collaborate on lesson plans and community service projects across divisions. They readily share ideas and resources. We now have a virtual community that parallels our physical community, and its powerful anytime-from-anywhere communications capabilities make us feel closer together than ever.” Learn more

 

Shift Your Classroom: Small Strategic Steps

“Teachers who are interested in shifting their classrooms often don’t know where to start,” writes teacher Shelley Wright in this combination reflection and how-to guide. “It can be overwhelming, frightening, and even discouraging, especially when no one else around you seems to think the system is broken. The question I’ve been asked often throughout the past year is “Where should a teacher begin?” I’ve reflected on this a fair amount, and I think small strategic steps are the key. Learn more

 

Inside My Global Classroom

I’m an Australian,” confesses teacher/librarian Jenny Luca, “and yet I function in online networks with educators from all parts of the world. I know my practice has benefited from these interactions. Some of the most exciting times I’ve experienced with students have come when we’ve made contact with a teacher or class in another country. As corny as it might seem to some, students are really enthused by a live video connection with someone in a far off place. If you’d like to build your own global classroom, I’ve included some tips that can help you think ahead and plan for hiccups.” Learn more

 

The following two tabs change content below.

John Norton

Share this: