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Principal Eric Sheninger interview for Connected Educators. In the interview, he describes how as new principal, relatively young in age when he accepted the position, he discovered Twitter and other forms of social media for professional development. Since Eric became a principal a few years ago, he has gone on to win much acclaim as an administrative leader
After reading Eric's interview, be sure to return here to comment on what your own takeaway message is based on his advice. Also, consider following Eric on Twitter:
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| image: http://connectededucators.org/profiles/interview-with-eric-sheninger-principal/ |
8 comments:
I agree with Eric that it is very easy to become isolated in your own school and its culture. There is a world of great stuff happening out there and the best way to access much of it is through social media. I have become a big fan of Twitter and currently have three different accounts. My only criticism of digital professional devlopment is that it takes the personal contact out of the process and I believe that is an important element.
I absolutely agree with him- I've always thought Twitter was a time-sucker, but I'm quickly coming to realize that it's a great tool for learning about new resources, activities, and more! I spent many hours during my student teaching trying to develop fun lesson ideas and troubleshoot technical issues, when I could have checked Twitter to find solutions. Rather than being a time-sucker, it can be an incredible time-saver- leaving me with more time to fine tune lessons and make them much more engaging for my students.
I definitely agree with Rachel, I would have loved to use twitter for help during student teaching. Something that Eric said in the article stuck with me- that you can tweet out a question with a hashtag, walk away, and when you come back the answers are there waiting for you. I am still reserved about communicating with students (even professionally) via twitter, but it is a great way to quickly update parents or the community with what is going on in your classroom. Talking with other teachers will only help us to solve problems and make change in education, as Eric said.
That's really why hashtags are important. Otherwise, it's hard to keep up with all the tweets that are posted. The @Connect feature also comes in handy then.
As I explore Twitter through this course, I've become slightly less overwhelmed by the process of reading through the never-ending list of Tweets. The beauty of Twitter is that you can customize who you connect to and how you "pull" in relevant information. Teaching is synonymous with sharing, so I definitely see the potential for meaningful collaboration with colleagues, both in physical and virtual spaces.
I agree with Andrea about the initial overwhelming feeling of using Twitter in this class. Using Twitter has been a learning process for me but I now see the benefit of using it to share ideas with colleagues and "borrow" ideas for my own classroom.
Overall I do agree that teacher should begin using social media sites. However, I am a bit hesitant about using social media sites especially in the school atmosphere. I would use social media site to better my instruction but never to connect or talk to the students. I also don't want to get so pulled into these social media sites but the benefits of using them are definitely undeniable. Signing up for the twitter account has shown me that these sites can be productive and very helpful.
Before taking this course I was anti-twitter but as Eric realized social media is a great way to connect with others. Technology in the classroom has opened my eyes to a variety of resources and tools to implement n the classroom. As educators we have to roll with the changes that come along as time continues to change.
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