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| For Beth - always curious |
A note for a very important person, friend, partner in crime and valued colleague.
In Appreciation of Beth
A few months ago I was running a Twitter Chat as part of my role of developing an online community of practice for TeachThought. An educator by the name of Beth Leidolf joined in that day and from then on a crazy partnership/tag team was born. The power of Twitter! That particular day, our conversation was all about the power of blogging; not just for our students but also as a way of developing reflective teachers and reflective practice.
From that conversation of 140 characters or less, the first TeachThought Blog Challenge was born. We held this in September and the theme was Reflective Teaching and Learning. We had so much fun running this; conversations very late at night or very early in the morning depending on what was going on. The global distance, I'm in New Zealand and Beth's in the US, was nothing. It's been a great example of what globally connected educators can do - especially when they figure out the challenge of the time zones. Factor in the time challenge changes of Daylight Saving etc and the fun begins.
We've both made many new friendships and are constantly being challenged in our thinking by the ideas of others. Beth, you challenge my thinking, keep me on track, have boundless energy and enthusiasm which never fails to rub off on others. Your knowledge and expertise I value immensely and look forward to many years of friendship and collaboration.\
Thank you for everything you do and for being the passionate educator that you are.
Justine
Many thanks to both of you for putting this challenge together. I did the September challenge. Am catching up on the November challenge. And the growth I've experienced is phenomenal. I haven't spent this much time thinking about my thinking since graduate school. You've shown me how to use blogging to reflect on my practice, compelling me to do the kind of reflection we ask of our students. Big ups to the both of you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words Henry. It's people like you in our community that make what we do so worthwhile. Fantastic to read about your reflections and the changes in your thinking too.
ReplyDeleteWe're hoping for many more things to keep engaging the community.
Again, thank you. The feedback means a great deal to us.