#teachtips

I want you to think back to your first day as a teacher (some of you may have to think harder than others). Think about the uncertainty, the questions, the fear; now think about where you turned for help in you times of need.


I've had a passion for Education Technology & Reform for nearly 3 years now. When my wife became a teacher I started finding tools for her to use in her classroom. That soon developed into a desire to teach and 6 months ago I started a new job as a new teacher. However when I started teaching I noticed something alarming; there wasn't much out there for new teachers to easily use for their own personal growth. Now don't get me wrong, PLC's (Personal Learning Communities) are great, but the differences between a community and a network are huge. A network allows for someone to go outside of their comfort zone, get outside of their school walls and connect with people from all over the globe with something enlightening to say. I am lucky enough to be fairly tech savvy and very curious (a potent mix) and have been able to pull teaching tips from out of the rubble that is the internet.

But what about those new teachers that aren't tech savvy enough to dredge through all the crap that is out there? What about those that don't have veteran teachers around them that promote and help build a PLN? What about those that don't know who or where they can turn to in a time of need?

This is the void I hope for #teachtips to fill.

I want one place for teachers who care about making a difference in education to point those new and lost souls to find resources, links, thoughts, ideas, lesson-plans, research and anything else that could be of great use. I want to turn #teachtips into not only a Twitter tag but a tag on Diigo, Delicious, Flickr and anything else that the Twittersphere sees fit.

You can't move forward with
this thing attached to you

So lets make these new teachers' jobs a little easier. Let's make it easier for us to get these new teachers (the future of education mind you) into the discussion of education reform and technology in the classroom. If we hope to make a change to the way classrooms are run, we need to get these teachers that are fresh in the field, before they have a chance to burn out a become another potential anchor holding back progress.