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All @WestVanSchools launching new websites today with Principal blogs and Twitter feeds built in - like this one

This learning journey is just beginning for me.  I encourage you to tap into the resources at your fingertips.  Use social media to become a connected learner.  Thank you to ALL those who have helped me on my learning journey.

It is incredible how social media can connect otherwise unconnectable professionals. I have experienced numerous school decisions that parents did not support and which could have benefitted from examples carried out in other schools.

This blog post highlights the lack of scaffolding to teachers. There is a great quote from Leading for Instructional Improvement that refers to "Reciprocal Accountability" describing the responsibility school leaders have to provide the same differentiated learning to their teachers as the teachers are expected to give to their students.

I can so relate to this. As a future leader, I embrace it! It will be interesting to see this acheivement gap narrow as younger teachers who were raised a healthy diet of Twitter, Facebook (that is already old-isn't it?), Skype, etc. jump into the technology whirlwind without a bump. Seriously, have you seen tweens to 20 somethings even go into a restaurant without their cell phones placed carefully beside their utensils?

There are so many real educators out there who want to get better at what they do so that they can always do what is best for kids. By opening up your own learning to the world, you will be surprised not only how your knowledge elevates, but how your passion for teaching and learning will benefit as well.

Have you ever said or thought this: "We didn't have [x] when I was a kid and I turned out okay"? You might be interested on an article shared by George Couros in Twitter. The author says if this argument is valid, so these others are too: "Buses? We walked to school barefoot, in the snow, uphill both ways!", "Electricity? Pshaw! Do you know how dangerous those wires are? When we were kids we had oil lamps and candles and everything was fine.", "Agriculture? Hah! It's the ruin of society! Kids are just sitting around getting soft while they watch the crops grow. When I was a child we actually had to run after our food. We were tough, not like these kids today.", etc… Check it out!

The knee-jerk reactions that teachers (& yes, me too!) have against new technology applications are perfectly understandable. Change is not always easy, but attitudes will depend on how things are introduced and explored. I successfully avoided Facebook for a year until a friend sat me down and went through it (it was also the only way to communicate with her, so I had to!) Some of the negativity from teachers must be connected to how technologies are introduced to them. Being told "you are doing this, this and this now" without any explanation or support is bound to develop negativity.