Remember when twitter was something that people thumbed their noses at when it came up that it could be used as a learning tool?  How about the time that you saw something new and pushed it to the side?  We all have been at a place in our lives where something new has cropped up and we didn’t see the benefit to it.  I can recall the time that I joined twitter and the learning journey that I have been on ever since.  I’ve made some great connections, found resources, and more importantly have learned much more than I ever would have in a regular PD.  How would my life look if I would say, “I’m just not good with technology”? How would your life look if you said you weren’t good with math or science or reading or art or music or any number of things you encounter each day?

How would my life look if I would say, “I’m just not good with technology”? How would your life look if you said you weren’t good with math or science or reading or art or music or any number of things you encounter each day?

The one thing I can remember when I first joined twitter is the chance I had to learn from others.  I couldn’t access twitter at school since social media was still seen as a black cloud in education.  I had to find a work around and encourage the administration to see the benefits.  Same goes with Skype or using video games to learn.  We have to show others the benefit, without that encouragement no one will grow.

The same thing goes for those that continue to make the comment that, “I’m just not good with technology.”  There is no place for that in today’s school, AT ALL. How can we believe that we are bettering our students’ lives when we, ourselves, commit the worst act possible, closing our minds to the possible benefits.

How can we believe that we are bettering our students’ lives when we, ourselves, commit the worst act possible, closing our minds to the possible benefits.

It comes down to what makes us get better, being proactive or reactive?  I would argue that those who are always reactive never get to where they want to go.  Kind of like driving a car or riding a bike and you don’t look ahead for the stop sign until you are 5 feet away with barely any time to stop. What happens then, an accident, an injury? Proactive people look up, know where they are going, and sometimes take paths they never noticed before.  What style of learning are you?

We can’t afford to injure our students’ learning, but we seem to do this every day. Especially when we aren’t willing to learn something new. Let’s learn in different ways, ways that we aren’t totally comfortable with.  Is it really about our comfortableness, or how comfortable students are? 

Sure there are the times where what’s new becomes what’s old quickly, but we as educators have to look for those golden nuggets of high quality pieces of technology and learn how it can impact our learning, our teaching, and our students’ learning.

Why do we have to keep having the same conversation over and over.  We need people to try twitter, to try skype, to try problem based learning, to try makerspaces.  These have shown an incredible increase in student success, not with a state test, but with the engagement and level of passion students show.  Our job is to be fluid and change with the desires and passions of our students, while guiding them to ask questions that will benefit their futures.  Can we really continue to say that we are just not good with technology, with building, with game based learning?  Nope, and if you say you are ok with not being good with it, then I would never want to have my child in your class.

If you haven’t take the chance to see the benefits of twitter, to help you to learn, then take the chance today.  Don’t be the person who continues to drag others down with the comment that “I am just not good with technology” or “I just don’t have the time to figure it out.”

What are you going to learn tomorrow? How will you open your eyes to learning something new? How will it impact your students’ learning, or your own child’s learning?

 Ask others, collaborate, share your thinking.  Most importantly grow your own learning, like we want our students to do!