Thought of the Day: Friday, August 8th, 2014

What does best practice mean to you and your teaching? It is a fact that more and more educators are jumping aboard the social media train in order to grow professionally, to share, and to learn from others. With one quick look, you can find countless tweets from educators who are overwhelmed by just how powerful Twitter has been in helping to deepen their teaching practice. 

As the base of educators on Twitter continues to rapidly increase, so too will the amount of resources, assessment tools, technology tips, class management ideas, teaching strategies etc. It is a difficult process to sift through all of the valuable information being shared in an effort to narrow down what best applies specifically to your own professional growth needs. 

It is imperative to remember that nobody knows you better than you yourself! You are the one that best knows:

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Through constant assessment of these pivotal areas of your teaching, you will find that your unique professional growth needs will reveal themselves over time. Once you are very aware of what these growth needs are, it becomes much easier to create and implement the most effective plan of action to deepen your practice. At this point, Twitter becomes much easier to navigate as you know exactly what you are looking for. Instead of being bombarded with a massive influx of information, you can become much more selective. Doing it this way allows you to find those hidden gems in the rough that help to specifically meet your own unique needs as an educator. 

As Seth Godin says in his super short (great!) read “The Dip”.

“What’s best is subjective. I get to decide, not you. It’s my definition, not yours. It’s the world I define, based upon my convenience or my preferences....”

I use this quote above because it best conveys the point I'm making that you ultimately define what is important to you as a person and an educator. You are the master of your own teaching and learning. And as I said, nobody knows you better than you yourself. Time is a valuable commodity to all of us, so define what your most pressing professional growth needs are and move outward from there, connecting with those educators who inspire you and help you to truly deepen your practice based upon the unique growth needs that you have. And, don't forget about sharing all the amazing things that you are doing. There are educators out there who will find your work valuable.  The very best of luck to you on this rewarding journey!!