My parents always taught me to be proud of who I am and stand up for what I believe in. I like to think I have lived with this principle in mind for the better part of my life. However, something has changed and I can deny it no longer. I have hidden it from my friends although I think some of them are starting to suspect something. My wife now knows and it has led to many lengthy and deep conversations. I have chosen to confide in a few of my closest friends and I am not sure how approving they actually are even though they say they support me. I want to tell people but am not sure how it will be received because I am the only one in my circle of friends and would certainly be the only one at work…I can’t keep it in any longer and it’s time to come out…
I tweet… and I blog…
There, I said it and it is out there for the world to know and it feels kind of good. I tweet and blog at night when my kids are in bed. I tweet when I have a chance during my personal planning period at work. I tweet when I am stopped at a red light (never while driving). I even tweet and blog while watching my beloved Chicago Bears. In addition to tweeting and blogging, I read on average 40-50 blog posts and articles a day about education related topics.This tweeting and blogging had been kept hidden for too long now.
Why have I kept this hidden? I don’t know. Maybe I thought people would laugh like I did when I first heard of twitter and blogging. They will think it is something only Ashton Kutcher and Labron James do. They don’t realize the thousands of dedicated educators that tweet 24/7. These educators create a virtual professional development environment that blows any traditional professional development out of the water. Maybe I was ashamed because I didn’t want them to think I was trying to be “better” than them because I was talking to teachers in Australia about classroom management or about networked learning with a principal in Canada. Maybe I don’t share my blog with my co-workers because I am afraid of what they might think. A perfect stranger can hate my blog, but can I handle someone I work with every day not approving of what I write? Whatever the reason, I hid what I was doing because I was not sure anyone would approve…not any longer.
I am going to share my blog with those I work with. I will encourage them to write their own and share their experiences with educators all over the world. I am going to show them my tweetdeck and have them watch an #edchat discussion. I will talk to them about what I learn every single day from my professional learning network and will encourage them to join me. I will email them links and blogs that I pick off of twitter and Google reader from my PLN. I show them on a daily basis how twitter, blogging and my PLN makes me a better teacher and ultimately how this helps my students. I will hide no more…