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| Image from danielgarber.wordpress.com |
That was the first thing +Alan November said to me yesterday morning when we arrived for our monthly meeting with this visionary in the world of education. We only have the pleasure of seeing Alan once a month, yet he remembered that I was in a heated Twitter competition with +Maritza Villanueva from the high school to see who would get the most followers. Back in November, Alan began giving me hints on how to gain more meaningful Twitter followers and connect with people worldwide who share the same interests as me. The fact that weeks later Alan remembered that I was in this competition and cared enough to ask about it shows that he made a personal connection with me. This is such a necessary quality of a great teacher.
Incidentally, “qualities of great lessons/teachers” was the theme of yesterday’s meeting. Another quality that we discussed was giving student autonomy in their education so that they will be self-motivated. When I arrived home last night and turned on the TV, Footloose was on (I know most 80's movies are terribly awesome, but don’t tell me your feet aren’t tapping when Ren McCormack dances!) Watching the movie, I really realized how important self-motivation is for students.
Think about it...a group of students who truly believe that they should be able to dance. Sure, there are obstacles that stand in their way...obstacles that seem like they will be impossible to overcome. But these students feel so strongly that dancing is what they want to do and it’s for the right reasons! Now, let’s replace the word “dance” with “learn” or “create” or “collaborate”. If our students feel as strongly about what they’re learning or creating as these students in the movie felt about dancing, then I think we’ve given them the freedom to create their own learning. This is the time for Passaic’s students to have their Footloose moment.
PS - In case you were wondering, I did not win the Twitter competition, but I learned some really valuable lessons from the experience. I was inspired by my middle school students who refused to let me give up. And all that hard work was not in vain...I still use Twitter every day to build my professional learning network, and for that, I feel like a winner! :)
Excellent post, Joanna! I feel like a winner as well because i am learning everyday from and with you!
ReplyDeleteNice read Joanna! You might be happy to know that with twitter it's about quality over quantity. I'd much rather have 5 followers relevant to my field/interests than 500 random followers. (So no such thing as a loser in a twitter follower contest other than perhaps bragging rights.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, Bill! I agree...I am proud of the quality of the connections I've made on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteAnd Mike, I feel the same way! :-)
Awesome post Joanna and I thoroughly enjoyed being a spectator on the side line watching you and Maritza enjoy a truly fun and professionally motivating healthy competition! Work should be both rewarding and fun all the time!
ReplyDeleteLove the comparison, Joanna!! Who doesn't love an 80s flick!?! Great reminder that there will always be challenges to overcome. Where there is a will- there is a way!
ReplyDeleteJoanna what an amazing post! It made me think back to when we first met Alan and he suggested we tweet to form a Professional Learning Network in Passaic. I never imagined I'd actually enjoy tweeting, but I'm hooked and extremely proud to be a part of this growing network and new vision. I look forward to learning from everyone at #techpass and even more excited to see where it will take our students!
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