VANGUARD+Spring+2014

PRACTICES: EDUCATIONAL REVOLUTION
Our need to connect centers
around the belief that in the 21st century
we are surrounded by opportunities
to become better educators. Sure,
it’s easy to dismiss social media as
distractions for our students or ways
for individuals in the spotlight to
further their own agenda. However,
by dismissing such powerful technology
you are truly missing a unique
opportunity to engage in professional
development at any free moment.
The role of the assistant principal, I
have learned as I move
through my second
year in this position, is a
complicated one. We are
pulled in
many different directions
during the day, and
through the nature of our
presence in the building
we are often called to be
a jack-of-all-trades. While
this is surely a great opportunity
for developing
skills that will hopefully
take us into a principalship one day,
it’s rough on time management. On
any given day I could be in a meeting
regarding an at-risk student, making
attempts to restore harmed relationships
after a disciplinary issue, observing
a lesson, conferencing with a
teacher regarding an observation, developing
next year’s master schedule,
all while assisting with any impromptu
issues that may arise throughout
the building. Traditionally, connecting
with my fellow APs would not be
something that I could place at the top
of my priority list. Enter Twitter.
While I had already been very familiar
with Twitter as a powerful tool
of personal connection for a couple of
years, I had never really looked at it
as a way to reclaim my own form of
personal professional development.
Twitter as an educational tool has
truly changed my life. No longer do
I have to feel disconnected from my
educational peers because I don’t
have time during the school day. For
example:
• On any given evening there
are multiple hashtag (#) chats
occurring that open tremendous
doors of communication across
state and international borders. I
have had the pleasure of following
people working in the field
from across the country as well
as in Canada, Great Britain, and
Australia among others, and we
share resources as if they were sitting
in the office next to me. Dis-
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