The Invisible Conversation

There are two levels of discourse taking place at the moment in education.  One is in the traditional media. It is reporting on the current battles in education: testing, budget cuts, testing, attacks on the teaching profession, how to "fix" education, testing, just fire all the teachers, testing, testing, and my personal fave: "standards!!!"   Participants in this level of discourse are not for the most part directly involved in education. This does not mean that they do not have opinions to fling far and wide. It is their voices that the public are hearing most.  They unfortunately do not accurately reflect the true change that is happening in education. To find out about what's really going on, you need to be a participant in the invisible conversation.

A quiet, unobserved, global discussion is occurring between educators. Intermediaries who twist the message are absent.  Only those directly involved in the process are participants.  In this conversation is a rich sharing of ideas, technology, knowledge and skills. It is where the teacher who is fighting to get the internet unblocked in her school can connect with schools that have already allowed access to YouTube and Facebook.  It is a place where, if you have a question or a technical difficulty, help is immediately available. It is a place of untold wealth where the truly innovative projects, teachers, schools, thinkers, researchers and technology developers are freely sharing ideas on how school in the 21st century can be done well.

It is exciting, eye-opening and will change how you teach.  Participants are patient and helpful and fun.   Consider this a personal invitation to join this conversation.
How? Twitter is a good place to start. Open a twitter account. Start following people. Type the hashtag #edchat in the search spot and join in!