Final Winter Qtr Blog

I am supposed to blog about how I have grown at being public as a teacher this quarter.  I have to say that I am not quite there yet.  That is not to say that I don't want to be transparent in my teaching.  I do want to be public and transparent.  But I need to concentrate on one thing at a time.  This quarter I have been focused on learning teaching methods and looking at the research behind them.  I want to have a solid grasp of these things before I start entering conversations with other educators.  I'm a newbie and, frankly, I don't have enough experience with public school kids yet to "contribute to someone else’s learning by commenting/linking to their blog."  That is not to say that I won't get tons of experience this coming spring quarter when I actually take over the class.  I trust myself to do what is best for my kids.  Right now, I get the most out of my feedback from the kids and my mentor teacher.  I do my best to make my teaching transparent to them.  As I take over the class website, I will be able to make my teaching transparent to their families as well.  And now that I won't be so busy with methods classes, I will have more time and energy to focus on learning from the broader education community.  I can't, or don't want to, force connections though.  When I start linking my blogs to other people's blogs, I want it to be because I genuinely think its worth linking.    The professional conversation has been one-sided so far (I have been learning from other educators and researchers), and I think that is ok for where I am right now as a teacher.  My feet are barely wet.  I do plan on doing a lot of splashing around next quarter so that I will be ready to dive right in when I (hopefully) have my own classroom next year.  No, I am not resisting technology and networking.  I just approach it at a different pace than what is expected based on these assignments.  I just want the chance to make a few more connections between what I've learned in class and what I do in the classroom as a teacher before I enter into conversations outside of the cohort.  So far, I have commented on a couple of outside blogs, but it was mostly to thank them for sharing their experience and knowledge.  I have re-tweeted links that I think are notable.  I have diigo'd articles that I think might be interesting to the cohort.  And I do like blogging, even if I don't get to it regularly.  I do plan to keep it up, though it might not be with this starter blog.  And I really do enjoy reading other people's blogs and articles.  I know that I have so much to learn and that there are so many people out there to learn from.  I will make those connections and enter into conversations.  And it will be genuine and thoughtful, not forced and rushed.  I got into teaching because I want to help make a difference in the world.  To do that, I know I can't stay inside a box forever.  I know I need to get out there and make my voice heard.  However, I want my voice to be educated and backed up by knowledge and/or experience.  My education in education is just getting started and I can't wait to learn more and continue to grow.