Educators Need Safety to Share Their Story

Teachers need to feel safe in sharing their story. Teachers are doing amazing things in their classrooms. I don't know who first said "if you don't tell your story someone else will" and I even looked it up to give credit where credit is due but what I found as it's been said many, many times. Which means there are many, many people that have experienced what this means.  

I remember the first time it happened to me in an educational setting. I was sitting in a room at the beginning of the school year with all the K-12 teachers in our school system and it was rhetorically asked by the speaker "why do we teach computers to elementary students in a standalone setting? Why doesn't it support what is happening in the classroom?

I wanted to stand up and scream "that's not true! It does! I'm doing my best to make it   with the classroom learning!" but it wasn't one of those situations where I felt could do that and as I felt tears stinging my eyes, my friend and co-teacher sitting right next to me patted me on the knee and said "it's OK, we know how you actually teach." 

This was before the age of social media. It was basically in a setting of silo'd teachers doing their best day after day with very little adult contact. That was the culture of the day.

But that's not today's culture. Sometimes when I walk into a classroom students don't even look up because they are so used to other adults coming in and out supporting, aiding, watching what's going on that it's the norm.

I think maybe because of my past I have wholeheartedly chosen to share the amazing things going on in education with the world whenever I can. I believe 100% that someone's telling your story and it might as well be you so it will be correct. Sharing your story via blogs and/or using social media, or face to face with other educators helps create a system of transparency that parents and students seem to appreciate.

But very often other educators look at me and say "wow you really do a lot of sharing of the things that you guys have going on in the elementary school but I'm scared to do it. It's risky, what if I say something that is taken the wrong way? or that someone doesn't like?"

I honestly sat there complexed. What would you be saying people might take the wrong way? And then I realized I've had those moments-moments where I needed to explain a little bit about what was going on to help people understand better what our goals and standards were. But I never feel like I've had my hand slapped for something I've shared. I have been questioned but I don't have a problem with that. And as an innovator, I should be questioned. No educator should have free reign. There should be some boundaries. I'll be honest I think my sharing has brought me more positive results as an educator than negative. I love telling our story at our school because I love our school. If I post something that someone doesn't agree with (which has happened), or that is misinterpreted (which definitely has happened), they have to know my heart. I am an educator who passionately believes in her students and the faculty at my school. Our story is a great one and I'm proud to show it. 

It makes me sad to hear about other educators not feeling safe to share their stories. How I long for everyone to have the freedom and feel a school culture that gives them the safety to share, to not be criticized for thinking or feeling differently on a subject. I think as long as we don't bash other's thoughts and we share kindly and in a way that does not harm our school's reputation then administrators should welcome educators that have good things to share and are willing to share.

 Over the past year I've really tried to strive to share the positives as I'm walking down hallways, as I'm looking in classrooms, as I'm seeing people interact, as I'm teaching, as I'm watching students learn and watching children play. Educators and schools get bad wraps every single day. It's time to create a culture where teachers feel safe to share the good things going on. Let's do it! Grab a hashtag for your school and GO! I've adopted #ccslearns and invite other CCS teachers to get on this hashtag's share train!  What's yours?

The Power of a #Hashtag

Before 2007, this little symbol "#" was known as the pound key, then a techie and former Google developer by the name of Chris Messina changed the Internet world for the good. Saying "for the good" is obviously an opinion statement but I feel like it opened the world of educational knowledge up to me like never before.


The ghost of hashtag past: It started with a whisper. Not literally, but that's how it felt. I was what is affectionately known as a "Twitter lurker." I would troll my Twitter feed for interesting topics based on people that I either knew personally or that seemed to have interests like myself. One night I "favorited" a tweet with a star of the ever educationally amazing Greg Bagby. (Odd that I just had to go look up what was like/heart before the change). Greg was actually in the middle of a Twitter chat- and I don't even know which one, but he very welcomingly invited me to join. I hesitantly started answering based on the Q1...A1 model of Twitter chats and Greg very patiently continued to retweet my answers and tagging the hashtag because I would forget the hashtag at the end of my answer. And so it began.

I saw value in this thing that I had kind of poo-poo'd before. The ability to ask deeper questions and truly see the path of thinking in questioning from a variety of viewpoints was fascinating to me. Not everyone thought like I did and that was a welcomed challenge to me because I love to learn. In the beginning I would find myself looking for #edtech, #byotchat, #gwinchat, and #tnedchat. I found myself growing my mindset and my contacts. I finally understood the term PLN (professional learning network)- and it started with a whisper of "Hey, why don't you try this chat."

As Twitter world progressed for me, Greg and I started our own Twitter chat hoping to pull in educators from the Chattanooga area (and beyond) that had an interest in things EdTech. It was called #ChattTechChat - all of a sudden not only was Twitter helpful to me but I felt empowered to be helpful to other educators through various worthy topics (at least in my head they seemed worthy).

The Ghost of Hashtag Present: As my PLN grew, #ChattTechChat merged with #TnTechChat and my world grew exponentially as more moderators were added. Every Tuesday, I plan around 8pm EST to be a part of this Twitter chat. I also find myself being pulled into different chats these days- #edtechbridge, #edtechchat, #sblchat, #personalizedPD, #divergED. A few state chats have also been on my radar from time to time. Twitter has opened the door for many face to face connections too. I've visited schools, meet up with Twitter friends at conferences, and now have "go to" people when I'm thinking through an idea or have a problem I need solved. Yesterday, while being a guest on the podcast "Leadership, Technology, and Learning" I mentioned to Mick Shuran, Scott Hargrove, and Christopher King that Twitter is now my first line of attack. It's where I go to get answers because it's often quick and I have the luxury of multiple viewpoints in one place.

But lately hashtags have become more than just an educational help to me. I find myself typing in a hashtag to read articles about Alabama Football, I find myself typing in a hashtag to learn about a current event. And just Tuesday, a simple hashtag called #GivingTuesday inspired me to make a donation to one of my favorite non-profits- my school.

The Ghost of Hashtag Future: There is a hashtag that hangs out fairly lonely in the Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram world...it is called #CCSLearns. I use it when I post something I see eduawesome happening at my school, Chattanooga Christian School. It's been around for a while and occasionally I will stalk it when I'm feeling a little nostalgic or need a "pick me up" from a particularly challenging day at work. But I want this hashtag to become SO MUCH MORE. I want it to become a Twitter chat for the base of CCS teachers/admins/parents/students. I want it to be a place where we can discuss the hard parts of educational technology at our school. You might be asking yourself...why on Twitter? Why not do that in a meeting or in a Google document? Valid questions!

I believe opening the hard questions to get viewpoints beyond our own school allows us all to see what other schools have done, what other teachers in other schools think about, what the world outside Charger Drive finds important to concentrate on. A "school-based" hashtag with a global audience leads to transparency and authentic dialogue. It also models to our students and parents digital citizenship skills.

Is my wish a pipe dream? Maybe...but that's the beauty of labeling something "The Ghost of Hashtag Future."