Highlight of My Week at NCCAT

The highlight of my week at NCCAT was not necessarily one specific moment or event, but the culmination of a few that highlighted for me the truly stellar network of teachers I will be building throughout this experience.  I have learned in the short beginning of my career that having good teachers with whom to collaborate and share ideas is one of the best supports for professional growth, whether they are in your school building or not.  There were many times during the most recent school year in my building that morale was low, eagerness to collaborate subsided, and PD was viewed as a burden.  It can be a daunting task to step up and be a teacher-leader in that sort of climate, but I like to think I did so anyway.

So getting to the highlight of my week at NCCAT: I was introduced to a group of positive, eager, passionate, ROCKSTAR teachers who I know will be a network of people that both challenge me to grow and support me in that endeavor.  Here are a few moments that illustrate just how awesome my fellow Fellows are…

Rafting

Someone’s spirit dog was described as “cautiously adventurous,” which is spot-on how I view myself.  When thinking about the rafting trip, I had a healthy amount of anxiety, and was hoping for a very tame river experience.  However, my raft-mates (who were also my dorm-mates and big-picture-project-mates) wanted adventure.  “Liz, you want and extreme experience right? If you’re only going to do this once, why not go for it?”  They raised the bar, and the competitor in my couldn’t back down from a challenge.  We went for it, and had a blast!  I never would have imagined leaping off an overturned raft into a moving river without the support of the group in my boat. This illustrates how I foresee the professional support of my new network–“Liz, you want to really engage your kids right? Try [insert awesome idea], why not go for it?”

Twitter

Here I am thinking I’m a 21st century teacher because I use twitter.  I occasionally tweet info to parents about important dates, or share updates during math competitions or field trips.  Little did I know, I am just a tiny tweeter in a massive twitter professional learning UNIVERSE (PLU, should I trademark that?).  When Dayson, Allison, and Rachel volunteered to host an impromptu twitter session after dinner on a night when people were exhausted and basically opted out of any activity, I was blown away.  “I already use twitter, psh!”  I thought to myself.  In just 15 minutes standing there, I learned how to create a professional learning network through edchats on twitter, what an edcamp is, what a lurker is, and that Dayson is so good at twitter he got invited to the White House.

I have so much to learn, not just about twitter, and it’s these amazing, innovative, risk-taking educators that are going to teach me and hold me accountable to a higher level than ever before, and meeting them was the hands-down highlight of my week at NCCAT.