This is just a quick update during the morning break. I wanted to talk a little bit about my insights form last night.
I had a brief opportunity to talk about Virtually Connecting. I explained how it started out as a partnership and turned into a bit of a grass roots movement.
In our small groups I talked about being a connected educator. One of the people asked me “what can I do to be better connected?” confessing that she wasn’t “good at it”. I suggested that spending a little time (like and hour a week) reading and comment on blogs. You don’t need to have a blog, but leaving comments on people’s blogs is a ways of extending an olive branch to that person. If you do it enough, the connections will follow.
I was struck by the disparity between the students (from under privileged schools) and the attendees who are mostly from school that have enough money to send their staff to conferences. That at least was my initial impression.
After the morning sessions on day 2 I have a different impression. I sat at one of the front tables and was joined by a group of students from the Oakland high school. It has been an interesting morning trying to open my eyes and ears to listen and hear things from their perspective. I’ll write more on that later. Now I’m prepping for the next phase of action collaboration.
If someone asked you “what can I do to be better connected?” What tips would you give them?
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