Out of the three books
that we have read so far this book has been the hardest read. I don’t know why.
In the being of the year in my department we didn’t have common planning, or
collaborative planning. My administrators believed that we could or should be
able to stay after work or come in early so that we could plan. I did not
support that idea, however it did cause for us to be more creative in the
design or format of our meetings. Often times we would group text, or email.
Steven W. Anderson (2014) writes that it does not matter the time, and distance
between two or more individuals, because technology has allowed people to meet
and collaborate without being in the same room. Anderson also talks about how
creations such as blogs allow teachers to share their thoughts and ideas. I
really like that idea because as he mentioned some people are afraid to share
their ideas in open or face to face, however blogs allow teachers to remain
anonymous. I have recently started a class blog with my 4th grade
students. We mostly share our thoughts on science and social studies related
topics. This has been informative for me to gain background knowledge of particular
topics about my students. In my opinion this would serve our staff vital in
that we don’t have to always sit in the media center and listen to the same
people talk. With the use of blogs teachers within the building can share their
thoughts and ideas with each other. Anderson talks about Professional Learning
Networks. I believe this is a great way for our district to share ideas and
thoughts about teaching our students within this district. It is also helpful
within our school, but with such a high transit population in our district it
allows teachers to share best practices so that students are less likely to
fall through the gap with they transition.
