As part of Connected Educator Month I recently made my first ever infographic (leaders should be learners, right?) about how I build my PLN mainly through Twitter to connect with others around the world. Obviously I find this to be an essential practice as a superintendent or I would structure my days this way. But there is more to being a Connected Superintendent than Twitter.
Another way I connect with the world around me is through these blog posts. If you scroll through the evolution of this blog, you will see that much of what I first began posting about was what I was reading. These posts often quoted or linked to an article that I had read that week. As you scroll to my more recent posts you see that I have shifted that sharing of what I have read to Twitter and now am focusing my blog on the creation of my own thoughts. Sometimes this is the synthesis of ideas I have read from several articles, but sometimes I am building on my own ideas. The conversations I have with others as a result of these blog posts connects me with others in deeper ways as they know me better, and can also challenge, extend, and build on the topic on which I posted. This is a great way to be connected.
As one who loves to learn and move on the cutting edge of technology, I have not lost the value of the conversations with people--the kind where I can see their reactions to what I say--face to face communications. Perhaps those can occur now through the wonder of technology using Google Hangout, but they can also happen when we grab lunch with a colleague, stop by a teacher's classroom, or spend time with those whom you are mentoring or who are your mentors.
I was reminded this week that we need each other. We need to have that team around us. We need to have those people that we can use as a sounding board for ideas or who can shepherd us back to remembering what we value as leaders. (You know who you are in my life--thank you for being that person for me!) We need that peer group that can understand the situation we face, offer encouragement and support, and that check back later to make sure we tackled the issue. Being connected is about not being an island of excellence--but about creating ways in which we learn, grow, find support, and give support.
This month as we look at how we can be more connected as leaders, educators, and people--let's look at all aspects of what it means to be connected and find ways to strengthen them all.
Photo: cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by torbakhopper