Pre-Service Teachers and #ohedchat

I am so excited about what just happened that I have to blog about it. We held #ohedchat and the topic was New Teacher Preparation. This is a topic that I have suggested many times, but the votes just weren't there for it. Tonight it happened and it was everything I expected and more.

First of all, new and Pre-Service Teachers got involved in the chat. This was so important for them. Some of them lamented about not feeling like they were a part of their cooperating school and district. Hopefully, they felt welcome during the chat. We also had a lot of participation from my Alma mater, Kent State. One of my favorite teacher/professor was even in on the chat. Dr. Kist

I kind of wish that I had my PLN to fall back on during my Pre-Service teaching days. I had a great experience don't get me wrong, but it is nice to have other people to fall back on as well. There are people in my PLN that are go-to people for certain things. I could have used that a few times back then.

I hope that the Pre-Service teachers take the time to make their PLN count. This is a great resource and should not be ignored.

I said that this was my favorite chat so far and I mean it. This has helped revive my passion for the chat. For whatever reason, I have had a hard time getting into the chat lately. I needed this. Thank you. Thanks to all that participated, I needed this.

The Connection Question

This post was inspired by a tweet that I saw as a quote from the recent NASSP conference. There also seems to be this idea or myth (call it what you want). That the connection we make through technology is not a meaningful or worthwhile one. It is also a thought that has been clanging around in my head for awhile now. Is Social Media making us more or less connected?

There is no doubt that personally, I have connected with a lot of inspiring people through my social media journey. Have I truly connected? Does that connection mean something to me? To answer these questions, I will give two examples of social media connections and the relationships that are built as a result.

1. #ohedchat - If you don't already know about what is going on with this great educational endeavor, I will direct you here and here. Obviously, we have made some great digital connections through this technology of the twitter chat. However, that was simply not enough for some folks. During one chat the idea of a tweetup was mentioned for those involved in the chat. I thought it would be a great way for folks to connect socially and meet up. That wasn't enough for some of the #ohedchat folks, they have concocted a socially and educationally engaging day for members to connect and continue to learn.

2. TCC Class of 2000 Reunion - My graduating high school class has not had any reunions. I won't get into the many reasons that have kept us from connecting up to now, but the fact is we haven't yet. One of our classmates started a Facebook page and added all of his friends that he graduated with to the group. We are about two years away from a possible 15 year reunion, but we have started a good conversation so far. I have been friends with some of my past classmates for a few years now, but we are now focusing on meeting face-to-face again.

I use these two examples to illustrate a point. I believe that technology and social media give us meaningful connections. No one, even technology and social media experts, could argue that face-to-face communication is inferior to other forms. But if technology is our tool that we use to make those new connections, then isn't that meaningful? Shouldn't we be leveraging technology to make those meaningful connections? What do you think?

Social Media and Teachers ... Who Knew?

I follow a lot of great educators on Twitter. I have noticed that a few states like Iowa and Wisconsin are having their own scheduled Twitter chats. It seemed like a great way to share and learn about all of the issues and topics facing educators and students in Ohio. A couple weeks ago I tweeted a question about if anyone knew about Ohio having a state chat.

Before I knew it, a about 5 people were interested in participating and helping. A few volunteered to promote the chat to their followers. I even volunteered to moderate. What was I thinking? I have never done anything close to something like that. I was very nervous. Not nervous for myself, but for all of the participants. I wanted things to go well for everyone involved.

Well judging from all of the thank you tweets, I think it is safe to say that it went well.

Even my wife, a reluctant tweeter, joined in and learned a few things.

Who knew that teachers could be so into Social Media? I knew the Ohio teachers were out there, but they are way more into it than I ever thought. We even got some reporters from State Impact Ohio in on the fun.

A huge thanks goes out to #iaedchat and #wischat folks for inspiring this great adventure. As I said their ideas and discussions really helped us get this thing moving. More shout outs to Christina Hank, Molly Bloom and Michael Roush. Without their help, #ohedchat would still be an idea instead of a great tool for learning. This whole idea is about 2 weeks old, and I can't wait to see where #ohedchat can take us and what we can learn. If you haven't joined us yet, check us out on Mondays at 9PM. We can't wait to learn from you!