On Being A Connected Educator

I remember my university professors stressing the importance of being a "connected educator." I remember being sort of annoyed hearing this for a number of reasons. When I heard "connected," I recalled articles that I had recently read about the devastating effects of social media on today's youth as occurrences of cyber-bullying was on the rise and more young people were spending more and more time fostering "relationships" with people on the internet and were reportedly inept at carrying on a normal, face-to-face conversation. I was annoyed because, in my mind, "being connected" was synonymous with being active on social media and other media outlets that to me were suboptimal in so many ways.

As my first real teaching experience comes to a close, I have been reflecting often on what being a connected educator really means and why it is important. Being connected doesn't mean that you are a social media guru of sorts, although I have found that if you know where to look, social media provides a medium for which some pretty amazing and innovative people can share their experiences and insights that are exceptionally beneficial to a new teacher. Being a connected educator means that you are open and actively pursuing new knowledge that you will use to improve whatever it is you are trying to improve. It is not limited to pedagogy or content knowledge, but all aspects of life. It includes current research that is so relevant to educators as advances in neuroscience and psychology shed new light on how we learn and the processes associated with the development of our brains.

I know recognize that it is a tragedy that many people enter the teaching profession, many times fresh out of college, with their heads full of the training that they just received and a diploma in their hands and think that the best way to teach is the way they were taught and that it will never change. "The only thing that never changes is that everything changes." I know that what I have been taught as part of my educator preparation will most likely change and change more quickly than it has in the past. For that reason, I know firmly believe, it is essential to be successful in any career and especially in education, that we are connected with great people who are passionate about their work and willing to share their successes and failures and current research that can help make our teaching more effective and empowering. I don't want to ever have a closed-mind or a fixed mindset for if I do, I can no longer progress.