Becoming a connected leader

Editor's Notes

• #2: Thank youBenefitted me as a learner and leader – filters to my district, school, community... And studentsMasters in 07-08, BCELC, then limited to staff/admin meetings (lots of business talk)
• #3: Feb 2009, met with KyeOnline marketing strategy for my wife’s businessIntro’d Twitter and FB PageTransferred this to use as PR for Kent SchoolStarted Twitter accounts – began to observe and learn – more for personal use
• #4: 2009 -Twitter profile for @mrwejr (originally created for school info), begin to use it for professional learningFB Page grows to over 100 followers2010 - The Wejr Board Blog begins – share philosophies, increase transparency, gain feedbackDeath of an Awards CeremonyStart to notice skeptics – Twitter Boy and blogging = arrogance (principals should be spending time with kids, not blogging)
• #5: School decision to end awards ceremony, blog post, tweet by Alfie KohnStarted to learn how to respond rather than react to being challenged. Found other people interested in student motivation.
• #6: 2010 Invited to blog at Connected Principals – started to expand my network and become closer with other adminAsked to present online – presented on parent engagementMostly cross-postsConnectedprincipals.com and #cpchat
• #7: 2011 Learning and networkingwith other educators has provided me with great ideas to share and propose to staffIdentity DayOther ways to connect – skype in the classroom (with school from Eaastern Washington), kidblogs, Global Read Aloud, connecting classes with @darcymullin
• #8: Meeting Old Friends for the first timePrevious conference/PD experience: pick a conference based on what came in my box, got to the conference, take a few notes by myself, go homeNOW – network with passionate people, discuss conferences and workshops, go there and meet them, discuss the day on backchannels, go for lunch and continue the conversations afterwardEdCamp Vancouver
• #9: EdTech BC Conference... Same thing. Got to hang out with a guy I had spoken to, video chatted with, blogged, tweeted, Facebook’d... But never met.
• #10: Summer 2011 – Read book by Bill and EricSpoke with George and a few others.... We need to let go a bit... Trust that it will be ok. So I opened up our FB Page to posts and discussion boards. I am encouraging our teachers to open up the student blogs for others to read (while teaching them about what to post online)... ALL moderated though.I wanted to increase our school’s social media presenceMost of this stuff we did last year... But added a few things. I want to meet parents where they are and this means options. Also, rather than only newlsetters, I started a school blog – comments and more “in time” info for parents. Parent communication that embraces WITH rather than TOSo that is my story of how I built a network of passionate educators around me... And now I want to dive into a bit more of what that looks like.
• #11: 3 main components of my PLN – FB, Twitter, and Blogging (+LinkedIn and Google+)
• #12: We cannot ignore the power of Facebook – it is everywhere. I use it for more personal – friends, family (although I am starting to form friendships with those whom I have met through blogging and twitter so now connect on FB)Story of losing Andrew...
• #13: We also need to tap into this free way to help our parents and families see what we do at our schools... And provide a platform for questions, info sharing, and feedback. A BC superintendent said, “I know more about what my nephew did in Ontario today than I do about what my child did in school”. If you are comfortable with Facebook... Use this and create a moderated Facebook Page (CE Barry Group vs page)Way to educate parents on current practices and thoughts on education through blog posts, videos, news articles. We currently have over 100 parents on this... And we only have 250 students.
• #14: Before Twitter, my PLN included my staff and admin team along with listerves. It worked well but I failed to see what was happening in schools and education outside of sd78.LOCAL
• #15: Now, I get to ‘see’ what is happening in schools across the globe. If I have a question, I could get responses from India or Australia. The majority of my PLN includes people from Canada and US but I have many educators in other parts of the world that I can contact at any time. All this is IN ADDITION to my school and district.GLOBAL
• #16: As I said, my learning used to take place as an event on specific days along with a little bit of informal reading. Now, I read educational tweets, blogs and watch videos every day. Very little of my learning is FORMAL now. I learn non-stop and can dive deeper into a question or conversation whenever I need it. When I want to learn, what I want to learn – plus new perspectives.
• #17: Also, social media breaks down some of the barriers based on structure, culture, class, etc. At any time I can connect with parents, professors, teachers, admin, trustees, and even authors or speakers (Daniel Pink and Alfie Kohn)
• #18: NO TIME?Your personalized, experienced learning tool. Instead of searching blindly, ask people who have used them!
• #19: 2010 Summer Pro-D... High school science and PE teacher – facilitating summer pd on literacy. Tweet + Google Doc + DMs and emails.The conversation changed the culture of literacy in our school...Collaborate with a new audience, gain new insights. What does a K class look like in ______?
• #21: Now what? What is your social media strategy? What is your purpose? Different tools serve different purposes.
• #22: Lurk.... Check out some key people and watch how they interact. Where did the tweet go? Did you see my tweet? Is there anybody out there? Use hashtags.Keep your tweets fairly safe at the start. Share interesting but not controversial topics. Zite, Flipboard, Google Reader
• #23: Begin to build your PLN. Form relationships. Model collaboration for teachers and students.
• #24: CONNECT – form relationships.
• #25: Post original tweets of your thoughts on education. Comment on blogs. Start a blog (newsletter or philosophies and ideas). Start a Facebook Page for your school. Encourage feedback and comments.
• #26: Respectfully challenge people... Be open to being challenged. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Getting challenged online has actually helped me offline. Challenge me. End the “great post” comment. Ask powerful questions.
• #27: Stay in your own lane. 80/20 rule. I tweet on motivation, assessment, leadership, edtech... And growing. Only tweet interesting stuff. The celebrities are hurting Twitter’s rep. Don’t pick fights or get sucked in. Help police each other.
• #29: Its all about learning.