Continue of Overview of the 2013-2014 School Year

It has been quite sometime since I posted anything on my blog and that is not a good thing. Therefore I decided sometime last week that I would do an overview of the 2013-2014 school year in one post. In this post I plan to talk about the fantastic connections I have made through my Profession Learning Network (PLN), Social Media, the conferences and workshops that I attended during the year. Even though there would never be enough space here to mention both the great and bad things that happened during the year, I plan to make an attempt to at least document some of the highlights.

In continuation of my previous post on the overview of my 2013-2014 school year, I attended TechTalk Live 2014 in Pennsylvania where I presented on the SMART report by CoSN. The conversaions and relationships I developed with both organizers and attendees were awesome. One of the session I attended was presented by a friend Nancy Morris and her colleague Tim Laubach from Lancaster-Lebanon IU13 on Securing the Human. In this session I realized how important it is for school district to have professional development for all educational stakeholder to understand what it means to secure the information and data they are using on a daily basis and the need to have checks and balances for all operational procedures in a school district.  At NJASA Spring Conference with Ed Aguiles, on Faculty Meetings can be Dynamic and Engaging-Here's How. Our approach to meetings in general need to be changed from one of just information giving to where there are conversations and interactions to benefit all stakeholders in education. Also I attended the Long Island Connected Educators Unconference in Farmingdale. There I finally meet Face-2-Face with Bill Brennan, Tony Sinanis Vicki Day and Starr Sackstein. I have been following many of these educators for years on social media but this was my first time meeting in person. Even though the traffic was not the best going from New Jersey to Long Island, it was worth the effort to be among such passionate educators on a Saturday.      

In the past year I have also been interviewed by Tech Talk Live 2013 on the importance of having the type of conference where both people from both the technical and educational sides come together to share information on what is the best method of supporting technology in the classrooms. Understanding the need for the infrastructure to match the requirements of the instructional process is a conversation that should be continual due to the rapid changes in technology but the slow changes in education. At the CoSN conference I was asked On Who Inspires Me. 

Through Twitter I have connected with individuals from all over the United States and the world including Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and England. It has been amazing on how many educators are still very passionate about what they do and the impact they have on the students in their classrooms. The innovation and creativity that educators bring into the classroom always amazes me but seeing the students not only understanding and getting it, but going beyond the just learning in the classroom or school, and doing it on their own, just excites and "pumps me up".

Even though  am a connected educator, I find that there are still many administrators and teachers that don't see the point in using social media to be connected. As the education changes the need to make change or be changes will require one to be innovative, persistent, courageous, develop grit, etc. to move forward in a world that is constantly changing and using more and more technology to accomplish even the simplest of things. As a connected educator I can share my ideas, thoughts and passions with others, whether I agree or disagree with them, so that I can grow in the profession that I am passionate about.