Where Do You Go?

When we're hungry, we know where to go to get fed: our kitchen, favorite restaurant, drive-thru, or grocery store deli. Carrying this analogy into the classroom, (as I tell my students), learners must know where to find information and answers to their questions.

As I drove home yesterday from a meeting with some of my National Writing Project  colleagues, I realized that the same principle applies to teachers. But I'm not just talking about professional development. For example, as teachers/educators we attend the workshops, conferences and sessions that build our knowledge and equip us. We attend the trainings and visit the websites. We talk to the experts. We also read the books (and in my case, go back to grad school for a second master's degree).

But I've realized that I need something more.

I need to interact with fellow teachers. I need to have conversations with them and exchange ideas. In those conversations, in the listening, I compare my understanding to theirs. And then I realize what I need to know, what I do know, and what my next course of action might be.

I have several places where I can get this kind of conversation. Do you know where to find it for yourself? It might be at your school with that teacher who shares a similar interest. It might be in a professional organization you joined long ago. It might be online (on Twitter) via a chat. Perhaps it comes in another form: something you will create for yourself! Wouldn't that be exciting?

I continue to find these sources of learning. Sometimes they are formal, and sometimes they are not. Ultimately, no matter what form my learning takes, my students benefit the most!