A Whole New World~A Whole Lot of Thanks!
I can't even begin to describe how AMAZING this week has been for me. I have connected with so many new teachers and educational leaders that I am literally starstruck! This pandemic pause that we have been living through caused me to do a self-check on what is making me happy. With the help of @kaysemorris, I realized that there is so a whole new world of online educators that I want and need to connect with. We all have so many questions and each person I have reached out to this week has happily answered my questions or guided me in the right direction! My point is, you are not alone!
No matter how many years of teaching or the educational background a person has, right now this is new for everyone! We are figuring this out together! I had questions about what STEM would look like in a socially distant/remote learning environment, and @iheartsteam provided not only answers but resources too! Call me crazy, but in most other industries there is so much competition that you would never feel the support that is being offered like it is in this online world of teachers and educators. Literally, whatever your need is, there is someone out there who will help you!
I had questions about Seesaw and reached out to @teachingwithapptitude and @adventuresinkinder, and within less than 24 hours I had responses from both teachers. I can now inform my principal with useful information from teachers who are using the technology! To be honest, I looked at how many followers a lot of the people I reached out to this week had and I thought there was no way that I was going to hear back. That said, I'm at that stage in life where I realize that the answer will always be "no" unless you ask so I thought, "What the heck!" These educators that have THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of followers took time out of their days to reply to me! I can guarantee you that they will help you too! As Kayse Morris likes to say, "There's room for everyone on the playground."
Throughout the school year, I often have questions on best practices, especially in reading. I can't tell you how helpful @helloliteracy and @hellojenjones have been in deciding the best path for our school. The confidence I feel when I am speaking about reading and phonemic awareness has been stepped up to a whole new level since I attended HelloLitCon. This is another example of how this whole new world of online educators are reaching out to a teacher in a small school because they want to help!
I would like to say a sincere THANK YOU! to all of the educators that have made this week so impactful for me. I would also like to thank all of the teachers that are busy creating so many useful resources for this one-of-a-kind school year we are getting ready to face. If you are new to the education world and have no idea how to prepare for this year, know that there is a whole online world of educators waiting to help. Please feel free to reach out to me at @lessonplantoolbox and I am happy to help you with your teacher journey. My thanks to these inspirational instructors is going to be to pay it forward and continue to build a community of positivity.
