This week, I’m using my Find 5, or at least the first 2, to specifically respond to Christina’s directive to reflect on my connections to communities I’m already, or have been, involved with.  I’m reflecting on what I notice about these communities and how they’ve impacted my learning and teaching.

  1. One of the coolest little teaching communities I belonged to was an intense summer graduate experience through the National Writing Project, the Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project (PAWLP) Summer Institute. This was a five week, daily program in which the teaching of writing was studied.  After not being a student for a while, one of my biggest “take-aways” was remembering what it felt like to learn and how uncomfortable that can be for our students.  I have to admit, I was surprised by this feeling and felt I had lost touch with what it truly means to take risks in a classroom.  This course demanded a lot of risk taking and I am grateful for that experience.  This course energized my approach to teaching writing and connected me with valuable thinkers on the subject.

http://www.pawlp.org/

https://twitter.com/LynneRDorfman

https://twitter.com/writeguyjeff

  1. If you’re looking for a challenge and want an opportunity to deeply reflect on your practice, you should consider becoming part of the community of Board Certified teachers. They have begun working at promoting a sense of community by creating the annual Teaching & Learning Conference and Teach to Lead.  Attending the conferences has connected me to new ideas and resources.  Additionally, I have become connected to other teachers in my school district who are certified, want to become certified, or who are recertifying.  This has created and strengthened several personal and professional relationships that are very valuable to me.

http://www.nbpts.org/         http://teachtolead.org/          https://twitter.com/noredink

https://twitter.com/pasi_sahlberg             https://twitter.com/HargreavesBC

https://twitter.com/RonBergerEL                         https://twitter.com/angeladuckw

 

  1. I HAD to share this article I found through Twitter @AdamMGrant on building a community that is built on a culture of originality and innovation. This is a tremendous article on true leadership!  It also mirrors many of the things we try to do in our classrooms in that it creates an engaged, empowered community.  It’s a bit lengthy, but as I continued reading, I became more excited about the article’s content.

https://hbr.org/2016/03/how-to-build-a-culture-of-originality

  1. http://lanaiskandarani.blogspot.com/ loved your “Find” on effective teaching.  I have forwarded to the rest of my fourth grade team!  The paper provides a simple metric for self-evaluation.  A perfect connection to the KISS principle for teaching.

http://uncw.edu/cte/et/articles/bulger/

  1. https://laceykleckner.wordpress.com/ loved your “Find” about Creating Powerful Learning Experiences.  You shared some great quotes, but I’ll add, “Real learning is student engagement. Student engagement is real learning. It’s about students connecting, and reaching outward, and interacting with the people and the information they need.”

https://nextthought.com/thoughts/great-connections/creating-powerful-learning-experiences-big-xii-tlc-keynote