Ask Questions...Answer even more!

If you read this post then you know that I love learning from other edubloggers and I especially am fond of Colorado bloggers.I'm biased, but I think we have some awesome things going on up here, #COLEARNING is a great symbol of that. Tonight I read Ben Wilkoff's blog (must read if you don't already do so) and I couldn't agree more. Below is a reply I posted to his blog, but I could've gone on forever. Here's a snippet that speaks to many of us from his post (go read it)

"It happens when
someone asks a question or has a request of you. They have a simple
thought that they would like to discuss with you, but instead of
answering, you put it off or say that you don’t have time for their
tangent. You talk about all of the other things that you have to do
and you just don’t have time for their little project.

While this may be strictly true, you are shutting any opportunity to
advance your relationships with those people who ask or your skills
with the tools that are required for the request."

Right on! Cool Cat mentioned something similar to this today or yesterday and I can't agree more. Yes it's exhausting, and yes it feels like you're pulled in hundreds of directions, but if you can seize every moment and BE HERE NOW then you are relevant, productive, and changing traditional roles and structures.
The teachers working with you are lucky to have such a forward thinking guide and peer to bounce ideas off of.
I answer numerous emails daily about seemingly pointless tasks related to voicethreads, wikis, etc, but if I can ignite a passion for forward thinking in a teacher then I'm igniting that passion in other teachers in their building and countless students this year and possibly next!
I love to think that way...am I that impactful (not a word, I know) probably not, but it helps me make time and BE HERE NOW!

Three things you must do!
1. Take time today to engage each of your students in authentic instruction!
2. Seek out someone in your pod, building or network and offer your time.
3. Ask a question of someone who knows more than you...they want to help, they just don't know how.

# 3 is a struggle for me, but I'm doing better, I try to ask for help and ask often if my tweets fail to register. I know enough to know that I don't know much, so I always can find a question. :)

Photo courtesy of Flickr