My Education Talk Radio interview on staff-led PD

Education Talk Radio host Larry Jacobs and I recently discussed staff-led professional development. Here is the interview.

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What are your thoughts on staff-led professional development?

Don't miss ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com and Mark's new book, The 5-Minute Teacher: How do I maximize time for learning in my classroom

Do you know about the Reform Symposium?

If you could spend a few hours over a weekend from the comforts of home to transform yourself as an educator, would you?

The fourth Reform Symposium International Online Conference, which comes to you live October 11-13 from anywhere that you have Internet access, can help you transform as an educator.

The Reform Symposium, which features amazing keynote speakers and over 100 sessions on everything inspiring and topical in education, is a webinar-style conference that mixes video, audio and chat into one amazing online learning environment.

The Reform Symposium requires no travel, unless you want to attend from your local coffee shop and, best of all, it will cost you absolutely nothing.

The Reform Symposium is a worldwide e.conference, delivered by the interactive online conference room, Blackboard. If you're thinking, "I don't know what Blackboard is, and I don't know how to use it," never fear, because the Reform Symposium organizers have you covered with this amazing Blackboard Help page.

What if you live in Warsaw, Dubai or some other country? Don't worry, you don't have to miss a second of this amazing conference. Remember, this event is global. Just visit this Reform Symposium schedule page and click on your time zone for a complete listing of sessions.

Want to be inspired? Want to go back to the classroom after the conference as a transformed educator, ready to impact lives like never before? Don't miss the Reform Symposium International Online Conference October 11-13.

See you there.

Don't miss ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com and Mark's new book, The 5-Minute Teacher: How do I maximize time for learning in my classroom

What is a connected educator?

A variety of posts around the blogosphere about Connected Educators Month got me thinking about how we evaluate connectedness. Is there a widely-accepted definition?

I went in search of this answer by typing the question into a Google search (does that act alone make me connected?). Most of what comes back on that search is only related to the phrase, "connected educator." I did find this article at EdWeek, providing some specific details on the subject.

Photo credit: Principalj.net

EdWeek says the connected educator has a Personal Learning Network, or PLN, embraces blogging and the Bring Your Own Device movement. Although I tend to agree on most points, I'm not sure we've reached a definition yet.

The recent Bammy Awards, honoring connected educators, in many cases, focused on those who have a massive following on Twitter and Facebook, at least in terms of people who aren't celebrities. Admittedly, I used to be enamored with a large Twitter following, envying others in the profession who have 10,000, 50,000 followers or more in some cases.

Upon closer look, though, I realized that some of these people also follow tens of thousands of people, and if you understand Twitter, you likely know that many people have systems in place for automatically following back someone who follows them. You don't have to be a math guru to see how this system might multiply your followers rapidly. So, does having a ton of followers make you connected?

I have written widely on technology use in the classroom. I have a modest 4,500 or so followers on Twitter. I tweet, post to Facebook and LinkedIn and blog regularly about education. I even teach an online course called, Plugged-In. So, am I a connected educator?

I'm still not sure, and I really do want an acceptable definition. So, are you connected? What makes you think so?

Don't miss ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com and Mark's new book, The 5-Minute Teacher: How do I maximize time for learning in my classroom

Are you a Freedom Writer?

For some reason, I was in need of inspiration today. Even though I'd seen it before, I watched the movie Freedom Writers.

I taught for 20 years, and I like to believe that along the way I made a difference in many kids' lives. Erin Gruwell, though, makes me wonder just how true this is.

As a young, new teacher, Gruwell chose to go where no one wanted to be -- a tough inner-city school, newly integrated, where she was given classes full of the most troubled students. Constantly told she should lie low, that she couldn't help them, Gruwell did everything humanly possible to make her students feel valued.

I found myself wondering how often I was like her, in two decades in the classroom.

If you haven't seen the movie, watch it. Then, ask yourself if you are a Freedom Writer.

Don't miss ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com and Mark's new book, The 5-Minute Teacher: How do I maximize time for learning in my classroom