Are you a Blogger?

Blogging is a very popular web tool for educators, particularly for international educators. It enables people to write about their overseas travels so their family and friends back home can keep up to date with their adventures. It also enables people to write and share about their teaching and resources they have found useful.

Patrick Larkin, Principal at Burlington HS and guest Blogger on Free Technology for Teachers this week, writes a very interesting post that points out why every Principal needs a blog. I would take this one step further by saying that every Principal (and educator) needs to read blogs. Why? By engaging in the blogosphere you become part of a professional learning network where many talented and dedicated professional educators around the world share best practice and resources through their blogs.

Last night as I scrolled through my Google Reader I felt like I was engaged in a professional development workshop - there were so many links to valuable educational resources and rich discussions related to blog posts! This type of professional networking really is inspiring and can only help to improve educational practice as educators engage with colleagues from around the world through the sharing of thoughts, opinions, articles, resources, links, and ideas.

21st Century Educators

21st Century is a term that is used a lot, particularly in education. Along with this term there is often debate and conversation revolving around exactly what this means. Kim Cofino's article, 5 Tips to Becoming a 21st Century Educator, highlights the importance of not just doing things differently in the classroom, but also outside of the classroom.

Being a 21st century educator means utilizing the available technology to engage and collaborate with professionals from around the world, not just the ones within your school walls. Learning with and from colleagues who are dedicated to educational best practice is stimulating and inspiring - your professional learning network (PLN) may just turn out to be the best professional development you have participated in for a long while. I justify this statement with 3 reasons:

1. It's ongoing - your PLN is not a 2 day conference that invigorates you for a week or two, it invigorates, inspires, and challenges everyday!
2. It's ready when you are - the PLN is ongoing and does not require you to miss classes or school days to participate (it doesn't even penalize you if you miss a couple of days)
   
3. It's Just In Time (JIT) - when you have a specific question that needs to be answered, or some help with a particular issue or problem, your PLN is there ready to offer advice, answers, and solutions

Being a 21st century educator isn't about technology, it's about being connected and engaged with professionals from all over the world. Today's technology simply makes it a lot easier to do this.

EARCOS Administrators' Conference - Manila

Well the EARCOS conference is over - what a wonderful 4 days! I really enjoyed engaging with educational leaders from all over the world who are currently working in international schools throughout Asia.

The workshops that I participated in allowed me to share some of the great things that we are doing at GSIS while at the same time hearing from other schools and some of the great things that they are doing. This time of professional collaboration and sharing really helps to invigorate and inspire all involved - offering great ideas and initiatives that can be taken back to our respective schools for the betterment of our students.

During the conference I was introduced to many new technological tools and had the opportunity to apply them practically while I was participating. Some of these tools really helped to enhance my conference experience and I feel that I was more engaged and learned more by combining the use of technology within this conference context. This first hand experience with the power of technology to enhance my learning, engagement, and understanding really affirms our use of technology at GSIS and our effort to ensure that our students are responsible and effective users of these technologies.

As parents and educators we sometimes feel a little daunted and fearful when it comes to education and technology. My experiences with the potential of technology to increase engagment and understanding for our students assures me that infusing technology into our learning experiences is something we should embrace, not fear.