Back in 2009, I started something that has forever changed my life…Twitter. It didn’t take hold right away but rather with fits and starts…in fact, I was an on again, off again lurker for the first few months and it took time for me to truly understand the immense possibilities this tool could bring to my professional life. But then, when it hooked me, it really hooked me. Throughout the years, I’ve made the bold claim that I have learned more about teaching and learning from the people I connect with on Twitter than in all the years of formal education put together…and I’m not kidding.
Since returning to the classroom, I’ve added some new voices to my network, including Donalyn Miller, Kristin Ziemke, Dr. Mary Howard, Angela Stockman, Katie Kraushaar, Kylene Beers, and Jasper Fox to name a few. Anyways, recently I found inspiration from a post by Katie Kraushaar, detailing how she had her students reflect on their reading lives. So today, that’s what we did. We started to create a sort of roadmap of our reading lives, beginning way back in September. We reviewed and reflected on reading logs, reading inventories, “I Can” statements and other artifacts from our journey thus far. The next phase of this experience asks students to create a visual to represent their reading lives. I will share some of the work the kids have done tomorrow.
Needless to say, though, I wouldn’t be the teacher I am today had I not been able to connect with such incredible thinkers, innovators and warriors. There is tremendous power in becoming a connected learner. Look for a post on my search for finding ways to connect my student learners with other learners from around the world.
You are so right. We need to connect with other educators who are inspirations. Thanks for the reminder and kick start to going back to follow some inspirational bloggers.