Wow. Never thought I would actually create a blog. I always loved to write, but there is something scary about posting it for anyone & everyone to see, read, comment....judge.
The 2011-2012 school year is about to begin.....my 5th year teaching special education. I finished my Master's degree....oh.....a good......5 years ago. During that time, I was surrounded by a built-in community of learners, something I've missed since then. Even when surrounded by great colleagues & co-workers, the structure of that graduate school community has been lacking for me.
UNTIL.....I went to the Jostens Renaissance Conference in Anaheim, California a few weeks ago. There were so many enthusiastic, foward-thinking educators gathered in one place that you couldn't help to be inspired and re-invigorated. There were many great break-out sessions, but the one that caught my interest in particular was lead by Dwight Carter (@Dwight_Carter) and focused on the use of twitter for educators.
I had never tweeted a thing in my life, but I tinkered on my smartphone & suddenly, I was tweeting. [It stills sounds funny....tweeting....I say it sometimes just to amuse myself...] I fumbled at first to figure out exactly what all this was about, but quickly started to catch on, loving the constant stream of ideas, information & inspiration on my twitter feed. Hundreds....probably thousands....of educators were on twitter!! How did I not know this?? I mean, @cybraryman is a good friend's DAD....and a well-known "cyber-librarian," yet I had no idea. What rock have I been under?
So long story short, I'm going to try The 30 Goals Challenge from Shelly Terrell (@shellterrell, starting with the 2010 edition. Check it out at: 30 Goals Challenge- 2010 I'm thinking this is just what I need to make some steps forward in my professional development and push me out of my comfort zone a bit.
This blog post is Goal #1. Accomplished. Check. Done & Done.
And FYI- Follow me on twitter @jennifer_lepore
Welcome to the... whatever this is! I had a similar awakening earlier this year, and it has opened my eyes and mind in so many exciting and exhausting ways. Good luck keeping up the blog (I have such a hard time thinking of updates), and good luck staying away from twitter!
ReplyDelete=)
Erin.
Welcome! Great to read your first blog post. I'm also a special education teacher - in the middle of a huge transition from self-contained classroom teacher to inclusion facilitator while taking my Masters degree. Look forward to reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteWow! My first comments! How fun! Thanks so much for reading!
ReplyDeleteI also started out as a self-contained teacher, for students with emotional/behavioral disabilities. Now, I teach inclusion.
Hope you keep up with me....Love the input!!
Congratulations Jennifer and job well done! I appreciate your writing style because your enthusiasm is evident!
ReplyDeleteBy blogging, you are showing your learning process and reflecting on your work, which are great things to model for your colleagues and students. Kudos to you for starting your blog and I look forward to reading more.
By the way, thanks for the shout out!
Be Great,
Dwight
Great first blog! My boss Dwight got me twittering well this year. Enjoy the new world tweeting and blogging!
ReplyDeleteI am honored to be mentioned in your first blog post. So glad you found how great Twitter can be for educators. Big shout out to my Twitter buddy @Dwight_Carter who got you started.
ReplyDeleteThrilled you also found my good Twitter friend @shellterrell who I must meet!
Twitter educators are one global family of friends. Welcome to the Twittersphere and if you need anything I will be there for you!