Dean Shareski is a fantastic educator in Saskatchewan that I have the pleasure of learning from online through both Twitter and his wonderful blog. Dean constantly speaks about the importance of sharing, and I chuckle each time I see a tweet from him saying that he has, “something to share(ski).” I couldn’t help but think of Dean on Friday morning when I met with another wonderful educator, but this time, in person.
Anne-Marie Tipping is one of the Grade 8 teachers at my school. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know her more this year, as her students have been my students’ reading buddies all year long. I’ve blogged about Anne-Marie before, but I can’t help but blog about her again.
Last week, Anne-Marie put a note in our FirstClass Memos From All Staff saying that she attended this fantastic math conference, and that she was willing to meet and share what she learned if others were interested. Since math links to one of my professional learning goals this year, I emailed Anne-Marie back and said that I’d love to meet with her. We arranged to meet yesterday morning.
Anne-Marie sat down with me for almost 45 minutes and went through all of her notes from the OAME Annual Conference. It was incredible what she shared! Not only did she tell me what others said, but she listened to my questions, conversed with me about some of her experiences and listened to some of mine, and helped me see how the information she shared could be applied to any classroom environment. Taking the time to share(ski) helped me think about my math program and how I could make it better.
Let me pay it forward as some would say, and share here my notes from this morning talk with Anne-Marie:
Ben Hazzard’s Presentation That Anne-Marie Referenced In Her Discussion:
I hope that Anne-Marie’s notes and Ben’s presentation get you thinking about math as much as it got me thinking.
Anne-Marie reminded me that learning can’t happen in isolation. Often after I attend a conference, I blog about what I learned, and this is a great way to share my learning with others in my PLN (Professional Learning Network). What about those people that don’t read my blog though? How can I share more with colleagues at my school and in the Board? How do you make this work? I’d love to hear some of your ideas!
Yes, I often email my blog post to my principal, vice principal, and some colleagues that have expressed interest in what I went to, but there has to be a way to get to everyone else as well. Anne-Marie tried something different with her email to all staff, but what about those staff members that didn’t write her back? I think we all need to take a little more time to share(ski)!
Aviva