Connected to a Greater Mind
At work some times I hear the following comments, they usually make me blush.
How do you do it all? How to you know so much? You are so smart. I can always count on you to have an answer. I knew you would know.
I’d love to take credit for it all but the reality is I am connected to a greater mind. I am learning everyday reading blogs, checking out wikis and talking to my network. Some people refer to their network as their researchers or teachers, to me it is that and more. I learn, teach and think with this group. They help me stay focused, tell me of up coming events, check on my well being and even remind me to take time to rest and relax. They support, encourage, even prod and provoke me into learning and growing. They have helped stretch me as an educator and a person. They are invaluable to me.
I connect to my network in various ways, Bloglines, Skype, Twitter, IM, Google Groups, Second Life, among others. I have been trying to explain this network to friends, family and colleagues. Some give me glazed looks, others complain they would have no time to use it let alone establish one. This network did not happen overnight, it grew on me over time. My ability to work within this network has also improved and changed over time. It just didn’t happen. Yesterday Steve Dembo at Techlearning wrote a piece called Goodnight Eduverse, it pretty much sums of how I feel about the whole thing. It is an elegant description of the connectedness of the Eduverse and I think it may help to remove the glaze from some eyes around here. Thanks Steve.
7 thoughts on “Connected to a Greater Mind”
My Pleasure. Good point about how your ability to work within the network grew over time. It’s not just having a network, it’s how you leverage it. And often that’s more art than science.
Very true Beth.
This is such a great time to review how we look at learning and the types of networks that build our personal and professional learning environment.
Your thoughts are exactly why I hope that my teachers all establish an aggregator such as Google Reader this year. It is a starting point for such a network that I believe can lead to other great networking tools: Ning, Twitter, SL, Skype, etc.
This really opens the door for learning and I’m already seeing teachers finding new and exciting ideas for their classroom that they never would have experienced without this starting network.
As I said in my post on T&L about this, only time will tell but I know what it has done for me, and reading posts by you and Steve help to show that this is the norm.
Great post!
Thank you Steven and Ryan.
You both have been key points in my network. I have been reading teach42 for about 2 years, one of the first links in my bloglines account. And Ryan you (as Ex) were one of the reasons I stuck it out in Second Life, it was a bit much for me at the beginning but you were a patient teacher and welcoming presence.
Thanks!
Beth,
Great post. It is so true how we are all connected in ways never before possible. Teachers working in isolation in their classrooms, will be a thing of the past. I believe that this is the way that we can help educators understand the power of 2.0 – show them how it benefits them and helps them to becomes responsible for their own professional development. Then they will extend the opportunities to their students.
We can’t teach what we don’t know but we have a responsibility to share what we do know!
Keep on connecting, Beth! I only wish I had half as much time to connect with as many people and ideas as you do 🙂