Open Doors

Connected educator month has arrived. This is the time that connected educators celebrate being connected and all the wonderful feelings we have and the fantastic things we’ve learned from our connections. We lament the fact that there are educators around us who fear the methods of connecting that we all hold dear.

What does that get us? A lot of frustration.

“Why can’t they see how wonderful it is to be connected?!”

“They’re stuck in the past!”

“They’re harming students!”

I used to get upset when colleagues shared resources through email because it’s such a limited way to get the word out. I would rail to my connected educator groups about how I had seen the same articles on Twitter the week before. I would not deign myself to click on the dated information.

The fact is that connected educators, as a gross generalization, become exceptionally divisive in our attempts to pull, push, poke, or prod our colleagues into a land of online connectedness. And as we should realize with our students, we cannot force anyone into our world. We must open doors and allow those who have not already found their preferred method of connectivity the opportunities to walk through them.

Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, FaceBook are all ways for educators to connect. Personally, I haven’t spent time with Pinterest, and I’ve never been on FaceBook. I’ve made some connections on Google+, but it’s never been my go-to when reaching out to my PLN. But Twitter is my chosen tool. I was going to write about how it has changed my professional approach, but Jill Thompson (@edu_thompson) did that in 2011 when she wrote "Twitter Has Changed My Teaching Life".

The point is this. Being is a connected educator is important. There are ways to connect for everyone. There are also levels of connection. Wherever your people are, meet them there. Show them alternatives; find some for yourself. Don’t get frustrated because your colleagues aren’t rushing to Twitter or share their Pins with you. Don’t condescend when they turn their noses up at coming to the local EdCamp. The key is to just open as many doors as you can. Send those emails, put links on your sites, talk to them about opportunities. When the doors are open, someone is going to walk through, and they might even bring a friend.