"None of us is as smart as all of us.”
—Ken Blanchard
What if you could tap into the collective intelligence of hundreds or even thousands of your fellow educators? Would their collective experience and knowledge be of value to you in your position?
I always thought that Twitter was a tool for groupies who wanted to know where their favorite celebrity or sports star was eating or vacationing. One of my colleagues and I had been discussing Twitter and I decided to give it a try. All I needed was the right opportunity.
I was scheduled to attend a Pew Research conference on generational research, and I thought that it might be a good time to try Twitter on my iPhone. I mentioned it to one of my colleagues who thought it would be a good idea because there would probably be few people at the meeting using Twitter. Boy, was he wrong.
When I arrived, I immediately saw a hashtag, #millenials, posted on the screen. As the meeting began, I started using Twitter to take notes, albeit 140 characters at a time. All at once I noticed on the feed that someone from NPR and the Washington Post was posting tweets. Within a short period of time I realized that more than 20 individuals from a wide variety of organizations were posting to Twitter. It felt as though I was a part of a 20-person team of note takers. Any preconceived notions that I had about Twitter were immediately dispelled. I was now hooked on Twitter as a way to gather and collect knowledge and information.
Constructing Your PLN
I once worked for a principal who told the staff "I am not a reader." Translation: I am not a learner. Needless to say, that statement went over like a proverbial lead balloon.
Being an instructional leader means that we are leaders of learning or learning leaders, and, in the real world, the "lead learner is the learning leader." In the past, school leaders were expected to know all the answers, but in today's fast-paced knowledge economy, leaders cannot know the answers to questions that haven't been asked yet. Instead, school leaders are expected to be willing to learn and to ask better questions.
To read further, click on the headline of this scoop.
Your new post is loading...
