The Importance of Sharing

Back in October at the Kern Tech Fest, I had the opportunity to hear Christine Pinto speak as the keynote. She is a Kinder teacher who integrates technology and has her kinders using the Chromebooks for activities, reading, and projects, but also does the regular, fun hands-on activities. I really enjoyed listening to her and loved some of the ideas she shared.

Then she made this surprising statement. She said that she shares because people need to see what is going on in her classroom. While that in itself is not surprising, she continued on saying that people assume she does technology all day long because she is a 'techie' teacher so by sharing she is able to show people the variety of activities her class is doing.

Listening to this, I realized how right she was! I was one of the ones that pictured her kinders doing tech projects all day long, but seeing their hands-on activities made me realize there is more to her classroom and her teaching than technology. This made me think of comments I have heard about my classroom.

Many people think my students are on technology all day long because that is a lot of what I share. They do not see the hands-on Science and Math activities we do, or how we are still taking notes by hand when reading or watching an educational film.

I feel that there may be a stigma out there about sharing activities on Twitter. I worry that people think they can only share technology activities on Twitter because the edtech community is so large. That couldn't be further from the truth. People on Twitter share ALL activities. The important thing is to share!

We need to show others what is going on in our classrooms all day long. We need to share the good activities and the ones that totally flopped. People out there need to see that there is someone else going through something similar.

Don't be afraid of sharing on Twitter, I know that is easier said than done. Still, I overthink about what I am sharing and am working on getting past that. We worry what others are going to think or if it is going to get any 'likes' on Twitter. As educators, we can feel so alone and isolated. Sharing on Twitter helps break down barriers and connect us to others. We need to come together to support each other, sharing on Twitter or any way is a great way to start!

**See this post and more on my Techie Tuesday newsletter.**