Two weeks ago, I was a regular educator, searching for inspiration and feeling very alone. Then Twitter happened (see my hallelujah moment in this post) and I have now known what a PLN is for 13 days. So here I sit, filled to the brim with exciting new ideas to try, technology that will entice and inspire my students, lesson plans written and ready to go and yet there is a problem; school is out and I have no students. I try to run ideas by my husband and yet the experience just isn't the same. He thinks it sounds great and that yes he would enjoy that lesson. So I feel like I am at standstill, or felt anyway until I read a post written by @thenerdyteacher on his inspiring blog. Entitled, "So, Now What?" it really made me think.
I did not get to go to ISTE this year, mainly because 2 weeks ago I had never heard of it and yet I have had a very similar transformation as I imagine many of the conference goers had. Through Twitter, blogs etc. I have been re-energized, re-focused, and renewed with so many ideas I have had to write them down to remember them all. So as the @thenerdyteacher said, well now what?
I have a special predicament that I am a 4th grade teacher, however, I may be teaching a split grade next year but won't know until August. I therefore can only prepare and plan so much for the next year without possibly planning for lessons that will never happen. What I can do though is create connections. By reaching out and engaging in dialogue with other educators across the globe, I am staying energized and staying focused. I am seeing ideas and bookmarking them for possible future use. I am doing grad classes all about technology. I am searching for other classrooms to connect with next year - are you interested?
Some teachers think I am crazy for not quite going on vacation but in all honesty this is my ideal time off. I am finally getting the time to think, something there seems to be so little time for when the students arrive for the year. I get to create and imagine what learning will happen next year and I get to reinvent myself.
Next year, I will not be the 3rd year teacher following in the footsteps of her very capable team members. I am repackaging myself as the techy geek teacher I truly am, finally wrestling out of the old lesson plans and trying something new. I may fail but so what, I may also succeed and inspire others just like my PLN does every day. So I may not have all of the answers to "So, Now What?" but at least I have a direction. And for that I am thankful.
