How to Become a Connected Educator

It's the day before the start of Connected Educator Month (CEM) and more than 500 events and activities have been added to the calendar, with many more still on the way.

What is Connected Educator Month?

Connected Educator Month: All month, all free, all around the world – A celebration of community, with educators at all levels, from all disciplines, moving towards a fully connected and collaborative profession.

October is "Connected Educator Month" and the U.S. Department of Education encourages teachers to share ideas, resources and instruction about how to use technology.

Why should I connect?

Do you want to be more proficient with social media to improve your teaching practices? Would you like to connect and grow your personal learning network online and build stronger relationships with other professionals?

According to Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall, authors of the Connected Learner  “Teachers must learn to model connectedness and enable students to develop personal learning networks, made up of people and resources from both their physical and virtual worlds---but first, teachers must become connected collaborators themselves.”

What are the traits of a connected educator?

• Connected educators are "do-it-yourself learners." They don't wait for someone to deliver professional development to them. They seek out professional development and learning that meets their individual needs.

• Connected educators have a "network of collective wisdom" to turn to when information and knowledge is needed. Educators who are connected have fostered and developed, over time, a network of other professionals to turn to for professional knowledge needs.

• Connected educators are "collaborative learners." They rely on others to help provide learning and they contribute to the learning of those in their personal learning network.

• Connected educators have moved away from the "paradigm of isolation and closed doors" to sharing a strong commitment with other educators to learn and understand more and more about teaching and learning. The educator who is connected no longer closes their classroom door and carries on teaching. They actively enlist the help of others and offer their help in return.

• Connected educators have leveraged online networks to solve their instructional problems through crowdsourcing and relying on the wisdom of the crowd for resources on teaching and learning. The educator who is connected does not hesitate to engage others in the face of the issues and problems of teaching. They use the crowd to learn more about the craft of teaching.

Here's the CEM signup link--http://bit.ly/cem_newsletter_signup

To follow connected educators via Twitter check out #CEM14.

View the following video to learn how to search and sign up for free professional development sessions sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.