Who Teaches Us?

My daughters are very interested in my career shift.  They were used to seeing dad as a music teacher, and we have interesting conversations at home now about dad's new work as an Assistant Principal. Two things they love:
• Playing "school" with their dolls as dad observes the teachers [Hard as they try, student engagement always seems to be quite lacking.]
• Asking them real interview questions [Q: How do you build relationships with students?  Their answer: Be nice and be funny.]

They have many questions and observations of their own about my new position.  The other night, one of them asked (in a very oversimplified way) "If teachers teach the students, and principals teach the teachers, who teaches the principal?"

After a pause, my very real answer was that the teachers teach the principal.  Yes, and ...

We must consider how each of us continues our learning journey every day.  It is more important than ever to be a "connected educator".  That doesn't mean connected to the internet - it means connected to people.  People who make us think, who motivate and inspire us, who confirm our instincts, challenge our thinking, and who push us into deeper waters.

The most important connections are the personal connections in your building.  But we all need connections to people in other buildings. To books and journals.  And more than ever, to online connections such as Twitter.

I always heard people say "I don't have time for Twitter."
Until one day I heard someone say "I don't have time NOT to be on Twitter."
That was the moment of clarity for me.  Even ten minutes a day of Twitter provided more connections, inspiration, challenges, and ideas from amazing educators than I could get anywhere else in the same amount of time.  The biggest time saver in life is having a world's worth of ideas at your fingertips.

I don't have time NOT to be connected anymore.