9. Feed your Educational Spirit

9. Feed your Educational Spirit

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

* Ongoing professional development reflects best educational practices. Professional Development

One of my friends from childhood is a teacher in another state. She has a professional goal that explores “student engagement.” One of her strategies for meeting that goal is to share resources and ideas with me. We have enjoyed talking about research and practices that have been successful as well as challenging.

This morning, or this evening, if you are in Australia, teachers from around the globe participated in a twitter-event focused on Adolescent Success (#MYEdOz). The team of leaders addressed five questions: 1) What are the attributes/skills that you feel indicate a thriving Middle Years Learner; 2) Middle Years Learners crave choice and independence. How do we balance this with guidance and support? 3) Wellbeing, self-advocacy, and resilience are essential in MY education today. Which processes do you use, to strengthen these characteristics? 4) In what ways do you allow Middle Year Learners to see that learning is a glorious struggle; and 5) Share what you feel are the most innovative approaches that will assist students to focus on learning and growing, during the Middle Years of education. During the session, colleagues shared articles, websites, and insights. People from around the globe filled their educational spirits and gathered tools for developing their own professional insights. Their website is www.adolescentsuccess.org.au

I got to thinking how important it is that we find ways to inspire our own practice. Is it possible, and I think it is, that finding our own source of middle-level inspiration depends on where we are, who we are, and what we need?  But it also depends on us taking the time to seek inspiration. My hope is that we never get so busy, so troubled, so overwhelmed, that we don’t take the time to look for and gather inspiration.

As new teachers, exploring different tools can happen individually; however, when learning about different resources, a network of colleagues may be more useful. Resources abound. Seek resources and people to feed your educational spirit.

Advice

1)      Start with resources within your own content area.

2)      Include a healthy dose of resources from AMLE.org.  There are webinars that are available to you, articles, newsfeeds, professional development opportunities.

3)      Look for the AMLE organization in your own state. Our website www.ncamle.org is full of resources for teachers.

4)      Next, consider twitter feeds and blogs of educators.

5)      There are also thousands, yes thousands of video and audio clips available on the internet to inspire you.

6)      And while media tools provide us with many, many, many resources, do not forget the importance of making connections with colleagues in your building, in your school system, in your state, and across the globe. While I have valued colleagues in my school building, some of my most-valued colleagues live outside my immediate surroundings.