As a student teacher I was told that becoming a teacher meant you would never stop learning. Opportunities to broaden our knowledge and our practice would come up for us, but it was also up to us to seek opportunities to learn.
I. Love. Learning.
Its so satisfying to know new things and even more satisfying to share them! This brings me to my first point.
Share. Share. SHARE.
*I'm secretly loving the fact that my blog theme is coming in super handy for this topic.
Many of my most memorable ah-ha moments were from visiting colleagues in their classrooms and watching lessons, literacy stations or general classroom management. My hope is to continue to share learning with other colleagues, as well as make opportunities to visit colleagues. I would like to spend time in other libraries and see how many teacher- librarians set up their rooms, their lessons, their makerspace areas. I have, and hope to continue to have a relationship with our District Helping Teacher in Literacy, where I can learn from and connect with to create visiting opportunities.
Ps. This is a great time to take a look at those Provincial Specialist Associations! Did you know they have one just for Teacher Librarians!? You can even follow them on Twitter!
BCTLA
BC Teacher-Librarians’ Association
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Secondly, make time for learning.
As a new teacher, I still very much enjoy going to conferences and workshops (I know thats not always the case when you've been a teacher for 20 years and it seems like the same old, same old.) My goal is to keep attending, and to connect with people at conferences and join groups and associations to keep current with new information.
My next point many previous student teachers will connect with;
REFLECT
I used to strongly dislike reflecting on my lessons as a student teacher. I'd need to fill an entire page with thoughts and notes about my just taught lesson and it felt exhausting racking my brain. I'm glad it was drilled into us though, it helpful for us to step back and look to see what we felt was great and what challenged us. I remember filming myself last year and watching myself teach. It was eye opening to have this instant feedback!
Moving forward, I know that much of the resources, information and peer connections we make are valuable and reflecting on those while in our current practice will hopefully make us stronger teachers.
The BCTF has a Teacher Inquiry Program where "Groups of teachers who come together to pose questions about their teaching and their practices."
Majority of their process is based on reflection. This is a great way for us to use sharing, learning and reflection!
References and Sources:
"BC Teacher-Librarians' Association". BC Teacher-Librarians' Association, https://bctla.ca/.
"BCTF > What Is A Teacher Inquiry Project?". Bctf.Ca, https://www.bctf.ca/ProfessionalDevelopment.aspx?id=49809.
image. https://www.bctf.ca/uploadedImages/Public/ProD/TeacherInquiry/TIPcycle.png. Accessed 19 Oct 2020.
image. 2020, http://edtechpicks.org/2018/04/pineapple-chart/. Accessed 19 Oct 2020.
image. 2020, https://thenounproject.com/term/full-length-mirror/488029/. Accessed 19 Oct 2020.
"Provincial Specialist Associations (Psas)". Bctf.Ca, https://www.bctf.ca/psas.aspx.
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I love that you talked about reflecting as an important step! So true! And I also did not like doing all those reflections as a student teacher.
ReplyDeleteA strong post that outlines a good variety of tools and strategies to help you continue to build your ICT skills. I appreciate how fitting the first strategy is in terms of your blog theme! I also appreciate your emphasis on the importance of reflection as well as continuing to build your PLN.
ReplyDeleteLuisa T.
ReplyDeleteHi Carissa, thank you for sharing this post. I think that having the innate desire to continue on a path of lifelong learning is definitely required to continue to grow ICT skills, or other specialized skills as a teacher. I also like how you emphasize that sharing is important. Sharing the skills we acquire at a professional development day, or even just during a chat with a colleague is beneficial for everyone, students included.