The Relevant Educator

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 4^th 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.