What is your plan to keep learning?

[Kevin]

Many of us got out of college thinking we were done with this learning thing but sometime in my teaching tenure, I realized that teachers were best if they were as ravenous for new learning as we want kids to be. So what is your plan to ensure that you can and will keep learning what you must know to properly prepare kids for their futures?

[Cyndi Danner-Kuhn]

Kevin thanks for starting this discussion, I will ask my students to think about it and respond in the comming weeks. Cyndi

[iMon]

Your growth and learning is and should be important to you more than anyone else. More important than any credits needed to renew or update your certificate. If your ultimate goal as a teacher is to improve learning, as it is mine, then you like me are always in pursuit of information relevant to the cause. There is a plethora of information out there today which is readily available via your web browser. Learning what information is relevant to your professional development versus non-relevant information which can consume precious time is step one. This is not complicated nor does it have to be tedious. To this end, I highly recommend creating your own personal learning circle. This would be a collection of websites you use on a regular bases disseminating the information you find relevant to your learning. This could be blogs, wikis and/or websites. Since my area of interest is technology education with a special interest in elementary education, this is the main focus in my circle. Remember that you want to keep your circle to a manageable minimum that is self-determined and not prescribed by anyone. Also I use pageflake.com to keep up with it all. I created separate pages in pageflake that allows me to focus on an area of my circle. For example I do have additional pages that are not shared that list my RSS feeds to specific blogs that I read daily to keep in the loop. I recommend using pageflake or netvibes to help you organize your sites because these sites utilize ajaxs, which helps make the page dynamic. Take a look at the sites and then dance!

www.pageflake.com
My pagecast is also available for viewing @ www.pageflake.com/writeme

www.netvibes.com

To learn is endless!

[Nancy Brodsky]

PD PD PD PD. I think the key here is not to wait for your school to offer a PD. I seek out PDs that I think are useful and relevant to my situation, and they are often independent of my school.

Read. Read. Read. Read. It is so important to stay up on the latest literature. This includes blogs!

[Ryan Meng]

I think you bring up a great point. Teachers are extremely busy people but as professionals, they must find a way to fit professional development into their life. We all know that if we wait for our schools to offer something we are interested in and could benefit from, we might be waiting for a long time!

[Ginger Lewman]

My plan is to keep an open mind. Along with that, I try to remember the purpose of education as I see it: to prepare students for their futures, whatever that may be. I try to keep my eyes on the "horizon," looking for the current trends in especially in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Our job in education is to prepare kids for not now, but for their futures, so if there should be ANYONE out there closely monitoring the latest global trends, it should be us!

[Melissa Beyer]

I really don't ever want to stop learning. At some point I would like to get my masters, but until then I plan on listening to conferences, and see how many I will be able to attend. I just read in the Hays Daily News about a Math Teachers conference that was just put on. That looked very intense and worth the two weeks in the summer. I hope I will be able to attend conferences like this in the future.

[Cyndi Danner-Kuhn]

I presented at this math conference, for a few hours. It was Intense!! It was funded by a grant and teachers could earn college credit and got paid to attend. I even had a student from my tech class last spring that wants to be a middle school teacher taking it, Of course, she didn't get paid, but what a wonderful opportunity for her to learn from all those math teachers. Actually, we/they have a classroom 2.0 site too, although it is a private site which means by invite only. Since you are a math major, I would suggest you request an invite. Here is the link, and you can follow along and have access to the resources. When you request an invite, make sure you tell Jerry Braun (former USD 489 teacher) who you are and that I suggested you request an invite. http://wekamaac.ning.com

[Dave Schroeder]

I have been teaching for 30 years - I continue to learn on a daily basis. The secret to staying fresh is to be passionate about your subject (for me, History) and continue to learn your craft both formally and informally. I have an MA in History, but continue taking classes and am currently a technology integration leader for my district. I read history both professionally and recreationally and I am involved in "living archeology" (practicing traditional tasks using traditional tools and methods - gives insight into the experiences of the people from the past - my field is blacksmithing). I began teaching Advanced Placement American History about 10 years ago which required me to become a much better teacher. I work longer hours and harder than I ever have and love my job! This works for me!

[Kim Pfeifer]

I think it is important that your students know you are learning new things. I teach in a very, very small community, so my students know me well. While they are carrying out my groceries, taking money for my movie ticket, or just passing me on the street, they will frequently ask me what classes I'm taking over the summer. This provides a great teaching opportunity in itself. I believe they respect me more for spending time on the "student side" of learning and also keeping in tune with the world. It's a great opportunity to serve as a role model. Students know if you are truIy interested in something, so making connections with them, and showing your TRUE enthusiasm is important.

I don't rely on just what my district has planned for me, although they do have a good plan. I take classes and workshops on what interest me and what I hope will benefit my students, and not just because of the credit. I read everything available in my area of interest, listen to podcasts at every opportunity, and collaborate with colleagues. I think good advice for new teachers is to take action yourself.

I hope there will be some kind of communication tool for me to use in long-term care for as long as I have the ability to use it! Being a digital immigrant, I don't have enough hours in the day to take it all in. I am still as hungry for information as I was before I had access to the web. Even more so. I'm greedy. We have so many avenues of learning now, access to so much. I don't take it for granted.

I think of my grandmother who was a young mother during the Depression and Dirty 30's in Oklahoma. Up until she died in 1974, she recycled every babyfood jar, margarine tub, and newspaper rubber band. She cut every old piece of clothing or bedding into quilt squares. Some people would call that hoarding. I guess that's what I do when it comes to learning. Thankfully digital is easy to access, save, store, and organize!

I'm sure MY cognitive processes differ from my digital native students; I'm trying my best to keep up with that challenge. :) Allowing my students the opportunity to share ideas helps me learn, too.

“Don’t limit your child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.” - Rabbinical saying

[Cyndi Danner-Kuhn]

Well that quote hits the nail on the head. "
“Don’t limit your child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.” - Rabbinical saying

Would like every teacher at every level to have that plastered in their room and needs to be in the faces of school administration and most importantly school boards!!!

[Catelyn Manly]

I never really thought of learning as a "plan." You know that saying, "You learn something everyday," is true enough for me.
I, however, realize the limitations of this, and I do actively look for new things to learn.

When I'm bored I often watch educational tv (Discovery Channel/ Animal Planet). Also, there's this thing we call the internet. I do a lot of research on random things that pop into my head.

For now, though, I do rely mostly on spontaneous learning.

[Renee Nonamaker]

I think I will always want to learn. Times change and to change with them everyone has to learn new things. For example, technology, what would we do if we just stopped learning about technology? There's probably not much we would do. I just think that if I keep an open mind, I will always be learning. There is always something interesting to learn on the news, msn, or newspapers. Learning really is a "plan" and if everyone sticks to the plan we will be just fine. Nobody can just not learn because of everything surrounding us in the world. There's something new everyday!!