What is your A to B? 5 takeaways from @gcouros!

On April 10 we hosted our first ever Technology Integration Conference.  The conference was for all teachers in our district.  Mr. George Couros, The Principal of Change, visited our district as the keynote speaker.  Mr. Couros, who hails from Canada, was able to provide us with a tremendous amount of knowledge that day but more importantly he was a motivational and inspirational force.  Being three terms into our 1:1 program we really needed another push to challenge our thinking and help us recommit to our plan. George helped us do that!  In the morning he spent time with teacher leadership teams and our administrative team.  In the afternoon he delivered a keynote that is the topic of many of our conversations a week later and will be moving forward.  After his address we held breakout sessions for the 300 teachers in attendance.  Thank you to all of our presenters.  No matter how large or small your session we are confident people walked away feeling like they were engaged in a very meaningful day!

Here are five essential leanings I had after George's time with us.

1) If you are not on Twitter, you are becoming illiterate.

As an educator it is our responsibility to keep up on what is current.  This is a communication tool that needs to be in your toolbox if it is not already.  It is the best free professional development that is available and opens you up to a network of resources.  If you are not engaged in this you are truly getting further behind.

2) 1% of the online community produces 99% of what is consumed.

What are you producing?  What are your students producing?  There are so many opportunities that if we are not engaging ourselves and others in this we are missing out tremendously.  Do you post on Twitter, do you blog, are you creating videos?  If not, you should be.  We all have something to contribute!

3) "If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less." General Shinseki
     
We all have to adapt and be flexible.  Our teaching and learning model has to be transformed dramatically with how quickly we can access content.  It is easier to do this than ever before and we as educators have to think about we are not facilitators of learning and not just there for disseminaters of information.

4)  Take risks!

Not everything is going to work the way you would like it to the first time you try.  If you are a leader we have to acknowledge this and allow teachers to take chances.  Teachers need to have confidence to step out of their comfort zone.  What we are asking from them is not the way they taught or learned so it will not come naturally to everyone, but everyone needs to know they are supported to take a chance.

5)  How do we move people from their point A to their point B?

This is what I would like to issue as a challenge for everyone.  How do you grow?  Everyone has room for growth, but my growth looks different than yours.  How do we help each other to keep moving  forward?Technology is just a piece of this, but the message is that we have to continue to learn and grow.  If you are a leader how are you modeling your growth?

Be Great!

Matt