Sunday, September 11, 2016

#ETCoaches Blog Challenge Post #1: Reflection & Connection

The Awakening

I began the school year with a hope not to just innovate in the classroom, but to share what I was doing with as many people as possible. I restarted an old blog; THIS was going to be the year I was consistent with it!

School began; I began trying new lessons, assessments, and projects. I began a grad school program in EdTech. And my blog began collecting cobwebs. Then, on September 8, I woke up and saw this on Twitter:


That simple question re-energized the passion with which I began my blog. So here it goes again. I don't want perfection. I do want to share with others, receive feedback, and collaborate. I have two main goals for TeachDMD.com: reflection and connection.

I want to use the blog to reflect on my own practice, not just through relating my successes and failures but through communicating with others who read it. My own reflection hits walls without the fresh perspective of my PLN members. I'm hoping they help me break through these walls to take my practices higher and higher. 

This is where connection comes into play. I hope my blog reaches as many other educators as possible so they can share their wisdom, experience, and suggestions with me. I'm hoping I can help others learn something new as I learn from others.

As I begin my EdTech grad program, I also hope I can collect many thoughts here about EdTech in education, my philosophies on EdTech, and reviews of products, apps, and information related to my program. I hope I can connect with other EdTech educators who will be able to help me learn new technologies in an effort to help my students reach their potentials.

Beyond EdTech readers, I hope to connect with other English instructors who, like me, introduce EdTech into their lessons, where applicable and innovative. I teach British Lit, World Lit, and African American Lit, and I love the creativity and passion with which my students approach the stories, novels, poems, and essays that we study.

The Bottom Line

Simply put, I want to reflect and connect in an attempt to better myself, to learn and grow throughout the year with the help of others. Thanks to Penny Christensen and the #ETCoaches group, I hope to discover many like-minded educators and make this a terrific year!

3 comments:

  1. Sounds like the blogging challenge was well timed with your goals to reinvigorate your blog. Welcome to the challenge and I hope it forms some positive blogging habits for all of us. I spent some time Friday afternoon making some needed modifications and additions to my blog as part of the challenge and considered it time well spent. Knowing that other people will be reading the post associated with this challenge certainly adds a level of accountability and support. Glad you found the #ETCoaches PLN, but more importantly that you have connected with other coaches who have the same goals and challenges as you. Keep blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post, David. The idea of getting beyond our four walls is huge. This blog will be a great place for you to share what you are doing and learning. Looking forward to learning together!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Reflecting and Connecting - all educators should aspire to this!
    Maintaining a blog is not easy, so I am glad you are not demanding perfection of yourself, but making the attempt is so crucial!
    Thanks for making the connection and sharing your reflections in #ETCoaches blog challenge - - - I look forward to catching all your posts in my Feedly!

    ReplyDelete