A Life Long Learner

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Becoming a life-long learner is essential in anyone’s professional development, despite the career path they are on.  As an educator, I believe it is important not only to continue to develop as a better teacher for myself, but also for the development of my students.

"If we want students to learn, the most critical element is the teacher. So professional development is the overall most important thing we can do to help students learn."  (Johnson, 2014, para. 4)

Education is in constant motion.  Best practices are often changing and keeping up with those changes is essential in providing the best education for the students we are entrusted with.  I define professional development as not only things that are formally called “professional development” like attending conferences or inservices, but also using tools such as Twitter, Google+, Pinterest or even collaboration with a coworker.    

This summer I have reached out and really starting looking for ways to build my personal learning community. I teach in a school where they is only one teacher per grade level or one teacher per subject in the junior high. This makes collaboration and bringing new ideas into my classroom a bit of a challenge. I have joined multiple groups on Facebook. Some of my favorite are:

MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH TEACHERS UNITE!!!

SURVIVING SIXTH, SEVENTH, AND EIGHTH GRADE MATH (FOR TEACHERS!)

BUILD MATH MINDS

TEACHERS USING GOOGLE CLASSROOM

Through discussions on these boards, I have found many new ideas I am bringing into my classroom. They range from classroom management to new technology tools to try. I am so excited about the resources other educators have shared with me.

Do you have groups that you belong to that inspire you to step up your game in your classroom? Please share in the comment section below!

Tona

HE>I

Reference Johnson, B. (2014). Why quality professional development for teachers matters. Retrieved from
     http://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-quality-professional-development-teachers-matters-ben-johnson

Radkov, I. (2011, July 07). KEY acronym - KEEP EDUCATING YOURSELF. Educational concept with different color sticky notes and white chalk handwriting
        on a blackboard. Retrieved from https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/key-acronym-keep-educating-yourself-educational-80589910