Thinking Out Loud! If I Don't Tweet and/or Blog, Does That Make Me a "Bad" Teacher?

Yeah! It's Connected Educator Month!

After reading numerous articles and tweets over the past year, I am getting an idea. An idea, that may be a misconception on my part. Is there a belief that teachers who are passionate about tweeting and/or blogging, are considered "better" teachers??? Are we considered "better" than the ones who don't?

I know I am passionate about tweeting and blogging. I am on Twitter every day, I post on my blog once or twice a week, and I maintain my blog's Facebook page. Whew! I am exhausted just reading this!  But, I do this because I want to. I do this because of the benefits I acquire that help me grow professionally. I do this because I love writing and connecting with other educators. But every educator is not like me.

As a matter of fact, I am not like every educator.  When I  read what some of my connections are involved in, it makes my head spin!:) I wonder where they find the time? Do they have to give up huge chunks of their day? But, that really doesn't matter! That is their passion, and they choose to do it.
And the great part is, they share that knowledge and that passion with the rest of us. They are our power strip, and they plug us into their connections, and that's a wonderful thing!

My girlfriend calls me a "teacher's teacher." On our once a week trip to the beach,  she is reading fiction. I, on the other hand,  read tweets, emails, blog posts, comments on my blog, and/or Zite., before I settle into my novel of the week. It's likely that she will never Tweet. She will not add the Zite app to her Ipad,  and she will not add education sites to her FB page. But, she is a great librarian! If I find something out in my travels through the educational Twitterverse, I share it with her, and she uses it.

There are educators who are not going to Tweet,blog,or even open a Facebook account for so many reasons. They may not enjoy being on the computer for hours. (And you know we can look up and 3 hours have flown by.) They have young children or elders they care for.  When push comes to shove, fixing dinner and putting the kids to bed, takes priority over a Twitter#chat. They might not feel comfortable writing for an audience. Maybe, they don't feel like sitting down and blogging to the world about a lesson that worked. Or maybe, they just don't have that passion for this, the educational tweeting and blogging, maybe their passion lies elsewhere.

Do I believe they are a committing a disservice to their students because they won't tweet and/or blog? No! That is where we, the connected educators, step in. Just as I get my information from those educators who are even more intense then I am,  I feel it is my duty to pass on my collected knowledge to my peers. My peers know I tweet and blog, but they have not chosen that path. But I use my connections, through Twitter, Facebook, and blogging, to make sure that they stay connected.  When I find something new, I share it with tweeters, bloggers, facebookers, and those who choose not to partake of any of the above. And vice versa, I learn new things from them, by word of mouth, or observations, and share it online.

Would it be fantastic if a greater number of teachers joined #chats, or began blogging? Yes, it would. Would it open up a whole new world to them? Yes, it would. But in the meantime, I am not going to judge them. I am going to use my connections to help them see into my world. Maybe if I share enough, they will join me, with no arm-twisting, on my journey.


photo credit: minifig via photo pin cc