MOOC Ed

Last week I joined my first Professional Development as a Tech Coach outside of our job embedded PD.  It's a MOOC Ed (Massive Open Online Courses for Educators).  Who knew that these existed?!  I had never heard of them before and am so thrilled that there are so many out there.....and they're good!!  As we all know relevance is key, so as I browsed through the free course offerings, I came across a 6 week course called Coaching Digital Learning.  I started this week and it's been really fun connecting with other educators who want to strengthen their coaching.  This course is for anyone who is in a position to coach (mentor role, teacher leader, tech coach, etc.)  If you've never checked out any of these courses, click here to see what's out there!  As I had down time between working with teachers, I was able to get through the first unit in two days and take with me tools to use right then and there.  If you're on Twitter, follow the hashtag #CDL_MOOCEd to see some of the great conversations going on.

Beginnings......

It's almost October and I can't help but reflect back on the whirlwind of the past 7 months.  I left the classroom after 11 years, joined a wonderful team of Ed Techs as a Technology Instructional Coach AND had a baby!!!  It's been a crazy year to say the least....but it's been so good.  People have been asking me why I left the classroom.  I hear all the time, "You were such a good teacher."  "What a loss."  This freaks me out!  I was a good teacher!  What if I'm a horrible coach?  This fear wakes me up at night....along with my screaming 4 month old......
But then I remember that all beginnings are challenging and that's why I love teaching so much.  It's the toughest thing to take a classroom of students and help them learn growth mindset, think critically, collaborate and communicate effectively and most importantly show them how much fun learning can be.  My hope is that I can show other teachers how technology can light a spark in students in ways that traditional learning can't and share my experience of how technology made me love teaching so much more.  It's hard work, but it's good work and I'm so glad I took the scary leap into a new beginning.  I can't wait to see the classrooms in action with the devices they're getting in the coming weeks.