Last summer I took a 3-day course entitle "Teaching History with Technology" run by Tom Daccord (one of the men behind edtechteacher.org @thomasdaccord) and ably assisted by Greg Kulowiec (@gregkulowiec). It really changed who I was as a professional and the opportunities that I gave my students to demonstrate what they had learned. It was the best professional development that I have ever been a part of, mostly because they, and the other professionals that took the course with me, forced me to examine who I am and what I want my students to get out of my class. I believe that it made me a better teacher.
Tomorrow, I get the opportunity to pay their work forward by starting a 4-day workshop with two of my wonderful colleagues, Sue Densmore (@suedensmore) and Lisa Herzl (@lisa_herzl), about the advantages that we have found using various tech tools. Tomorrow is an opportunity to discuss the benefits of twitter, diigo, and google docs with a small, but excited, group of educators in the Triton Regional School District who want to figure out how to use these tools to their advantage.
As I think about professional development, and I think about my PLN and how far the people that are in it, those that I have met and those that I know only through social media, I have decided that this is what professional development should be, teachers teaching teachers. At their heart, teachers are what Tom and Greg are, and I can only hope that I inspire the same kind of excitement about using technology in the classroom that they did in me. Thanks to you both for that.
1 comment:
Hey Dan,
I just came across the post. Thank you for the kind words. It means a great deal to me that you walked away from the workshop with the energy and confidence to inspire further change. Let me know how the workshop
went.
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