Inquiry Blog Post 5: Personal Reflections

A picture from my parents dock

Reflections on Blogging

Reflecting is something I do all the time - but rarely "out loud". I reflect on all sort of things, but I don't often share those reflections. My favourite place to reflect was at the lake. I could sit, look out at the water and think "what will change here if I don't accomplish ______ (fill in blank)". The answer was usually the same - not much. It gave me peace and helped me "get my head on straight".

So blogging is not something I was keen to do. I find getting started to be hard and often procrastinate - like I have been with this one. I often feel that I don't have much to share, or that no one will be interested. Who would read it anyway? I am not a TL, and I am currently not in a school, so I figured I wouldn't have much to add. I forgot that the skill set and experience I do have is not as common as I sometimes think it is.

One of the most important adult relationships that librarians can foster is with teachers and staff in their school or district. (Miller and Bass, pg. 21)

Having been away from a school for over a year and working from home I lost some of my most important relationships - the teachers I worked with and supported. Blogging for this class and responding to the blogs of my peers has brought some of that back. Providing encouragement to Megan, Shawnese, Nicole, and Lauren as they expand their ICT horizons has brought back great memories of working with and supporting others in their ICT journeys.

I spent 13 years supporting teachers to grow in their use of ICT, so blogging about personal PD in ICT or supporting teachers in their ICT growth / PD came fairly naturally. I wrote more than expected and was reminded of all the great opportunities that exist to learn how ICT can be incorporated into lessons. In fact, I found another resource I plan to share related to this years Hour of Code:

Microsoft Educator Newsletter

Blogging about Reading Culture made me think how I would approach what I thought was a more classic TL topic. By expressing my thoughts I quickly realized how much I had learned from the TL I worked with for 9 years. She had modelled some great ideas on ways to promote reading. The additional reading I did, along with reading the wonderful ideas provided by my classmates further reinforced my belief that I could actually create a reading culture. Another example of the importance of those peer relationships.

Relationship building in the pursuit of a common goal was further demonstrated in the relationship Worldreader formed with knls. Learning about the positive impacts their combined efforts had in Kenya was inspiring. Reading about all the other NGOs my peers explored while I went down a single rabbit hole expanded my understanding of what is being done to grow literacy internationally.

Fostering relationships helps us feel less isolated as educators. When we collaborate purposefully with people outside our area of expertise - I worked with classroom teachers, TLs , Phys Ed teachers, Music teachers, and French teachers - the resulting lesson can definitely be greater than the sum of its parts. This is nicely communicated in this TEDEd piece:

Key Takeaway

The key takeaway for me is that blogging can be a positive. The blogs we are working on compel us to organize our thoughts and investigations in order to share them with our peers. The sharing with, and support of, our peers is a form of mentorship as highlighted by Miller and Bass:

The key to digital age mentorship is to create relationships that foster partnerships both in and out of school. (Millar and Bass, p. 19)

The connections we are making through these blogs is a valuable support network now and in the future.

Sources

Miller, S., & Bass, W. (2019).  Leading from the Library: Help your School Community Thrive in the Digital Age. International Society for Technology in Education.

Talks, T.-E. E. (2022). How teacher collaboration strengthens the classroom [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfZOhSiK8lc&t=389s