Samantha Neill, a colleague from Buhler, USD 313 (#313teach) challenged us to list our top five teaching non-negtoiables. I put this off because I hadn't gotten the inspiration I thought I needed. So I finally just started typing on my iPhone in bed. Originally I thought I would have to take some time sorting through possibilities, but it turns out these were all on the tip of my tongue already.
It is truly insane to see where I have come from in six years of being an educator. My top five my first year probably would have been:
Ok so number five is still one that I care about. Especially the part about winning. Obviously those aren't exactly the most impactful things to focus on as a teacher. I am glad I have grown! Here are my current top five non-negotiables.
Let me know what you think. Is there anything I left out? Thank you, Samantha Neill for challenging us to do this. We should probably all look at this each year so we know what we're about. *Seriously, teaching competitions should be a thing. Pick a standard to teach and a panel of judges scores each lesson. There could be categories for co-teaching, blended, small group, etc.. Think about it
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I just returned from ISTE in San Antonio. There are a TON of practical tools and ideas that we are bringing back to share with colleagues and students. They will make us better teachers, media specialists, integration leaders, administrators. However, sharing those tools is for future posts. This one is to reflect before I forget.
It was a blast and we got to meet some eduheroes while we were there. We had #coffeedu with Alice Keeler,(Tara Martin, #booksnaps creator, was also there) hung out with some #leadupchat leaders, talked Sketchnotes with Wanda Terral, (Sylvia Duckworth was just sitting casually learning with the rest of us) and heard from George Couros (my personal biggest eduhero) to turn our students into digital leaders. Interacting with bonafide celebrities of your field is amazing. However, my favorite thing was hanging with fantastic educators from Buhler. We talked shop, passionately, about the best new ways to use technology for students. Our conversations regularly revolved around our attitudes and beliefs about teaching in general, and we raised the heat about core issues in our district and in the landscape of education today. Each night and on the way home we reflected. We shared our best learning from the day and the one practical thing that we think needs to be shared with our colleagues this year. Sometimes these were the same, but many times they were not. At the heart of these discussions was an obvious desire to create growth in ourselves and Buhler. To never settle for the status quo, because our kids deserve our growth mindsets, and our best teaching practice. Scheming is one way I would describe our discussions about how we are going to pass this learning onto our colleagues in #313teach. So my reflection from ISTE 2017 is that these conversations need to continue and need to happen often. I am committed to questioning myself and others in order to move forward as an educator. Hold me accountable. Here are some pictures from the week |
AuthorKyle McClure is an Integration Specialist in Buhler, KS. He specializes in iPads and GSuite for education. Archives
November 2018
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