The Connected Teacher: Powering Up
Edited by John Croft Norton & Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
(Powerful Learning Press, 2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Kevin Hodgson

(Disclosure note: John Norton is one of the founders of the Middleweb website, which hosts this book review, but he had no influence on the writing of this piece other than providing me access to the book.)

This published collection of blog posts and reflections from the Powerful Learning Practice network group blog – Voices from the Learning Revolution – is a handy guidepost for educators wondering not just about the ways to bring more digital literacy into their classroom, but also about the personal impacts those shifts will have on their experiences as learners themselves.

The book is built around four main themes that playfully hinge off the “power” reference in the title of the collection: Flipping the Switch, Feeling the Current, Turning up the Juice, and Ready for the Power Surge. The pieces in these overarching categories move from where to take that first step forward, to stepping back to consider the rationale behind our choices and what it all means for our students.

Norton and Nussbaum-Beach wisely not only allow the teachers’ voices to come through as they help convert blog posts into text chapters, but they also include some significant comments from readers on the blog as part of the texts here. This use of “other voices” is most effective when the comments and reactions by the writers stretch the ideas of the chapter, as opposed to just reaffirming the topic at hand. What we need is more of these kinds of difficult conversations so that we do keep pushing our thinking around the rationale of the shifts towards literacy and learning. An introduction by Will Richardson (another leader of the PLP network) about the changing face of learning really sets the stage for teacher- and class-based inquiry writing.

I was particularly drawn to pieces in this book by Patti Grayson (“Will My Third Graders Be Educated When They Grown Up?”), Becky Blair (“Growing Self-Directed Learners: Baby Steps”), Chris Preston (“How We’re Cultivating Inventive Thinkers in the Middle Grades”) and to a pair of articles by Jenny Luca (“Evolution of an Information Junkie” and “I’m a Connected Teacher But At What Price?”). Luca’s pieces really pushed my own thinking about how technology and information have both expanded my sense of the world but also made me wonder about the balance between physical and virtual connections with other educators.

Powering Up concludes with an insightful interview with Nussbaum-Beach about the role of a “connected educator” in schools and in the lives of young people, and then transitions into an appendix of shorter pieces about the value of Personal Learning Practice ideas, suggestions for how to get connected, and some advertisements for PLP programs. This book is a nice addition to the growing number of resources emerging to help teachers make a thoughtful transition to an inquiry-based, digital/technology-rich classroom that raises the bar for student engagement and work.

[Editor's note: Kevin reviewed the print edition of Powering Up. A free digital edition is also available in PDF format.]

Kevin Hodgson is a sixth grade teacher in Southampton, Massachusetts, and is the technology liaison with the Western Massachusetts Writing Project. Kevin blogs regularly at Kevin’s Meandering Mind and tweets more often than is healthy under his @dogtrax handle.

The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age
by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach & Lani Ritter Hall
(Solution Tree, 2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Anne Jolly

When I started teaching, “digital” meant “having to do with digits, or fingers.” My technology equipment included a manual typewriter, a purple ditto machine, and a dusty filmstrip projector that I shared with four other teachers. Oh, and the school had a 16mm film projector that worked part of the time.

You can imagine my amazement, then, as technology innovation and the Internet burst on the scene and offered jaw-dropping possibilities for transforming teaching and learning. With grit and determination I gradually began transitioning into the world of the Web, and managed to attain a fair mastery of Web 1.0 and some Web 2.0 tools. But as the age of social media arose, I lagged behind. I still had no real way of knowing how other teachers were using technology and what the possibilities might be, except when I had a rare opportunity to attend a technology conference.

Becoming a truly connected educator

Now Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall have published a book I’ve been waiting for – The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age. I’m riveted by the idea of becoming a truly connected educator – someone who can fit comfortably into the 21^st Century and stay up with my colleagues. I just need to know how to get there. What kinds of knowledge and skills will I need? And, am I too old and too far behind to ratchet up my digital skills to a proficient level – and to become a leader in connecting with colleagues?

Those questions rattled around in my head as I expectantly picked up Sheryl and Lani’s book and settled in for a good read. I wasn’t disappointed! By the end of Chapter One, I’d decided that I am, indeed, a good candidate for digital learning and leading. Why? Because the authors convinced me that through online networks, my learning possibilities are endless. I can leverage my learning by drawing on skill sets of colleagues from as far away as Australia. (I’ve just done that! I’ve connected with someone in Australia who is doing the same kind of work I am, and we are sharing work documents and ideas.) By the end of the first chapter, I had set up a Diigo account and I am now using it regularly.

I’m a passionate professional learning community advocate. By the end of chapter 2, I was busily highlighting and noting how I might begin blending connected online learning communities into my work with school-based, face-to-face learning teams. I sailed through chapters 3 and 4, underlining “ahas” and noting how online communities build relationships and collegiality. I enjoyed exploring new digital tools in those chapters and mentally deciding how I might use them.

In the midst of my enthusiasm for the digital “goodies,” Sheryl and Lani introduced a solid foundation of theory and evidence to back up the need for me (and you, of course) to be connected educators – to begin a personal cultural revolution and to be part of the wider revolution that’s taking place around the globe. And they backed up their message with anecdotes and real-life examples.

Digital dizziness – and then relief

I have to admit that Chapter 5 took me a long time. I went through the digital tool categories and tried out some of the tools that could connect me to others, organize my professional and personal life, and provide me with cool ways of doing things. Thankfully I was already using several of the tools mentioned (primarily the result of having worked on a project with Sheryl, who unequivocally insisted I use them). In the midst of exploring, my head began to swim. That’s when Sheryl and Lani pointed out that I don’t need to use every digital tool that comes around – I need to thoughtfully investigate and select tools with a purpose in mind. (Connected educators can download many reproducibles and other book-related content at the publisher’s website.)

And I learned about personal learning networks. These are, first and foremost, about me and what I want to learn. Once I meet my basic needs as a learner, I’ll be better prepared to be a leader. This book gives a detailed description of how to create my own learning community so that I not only expand my own connectedness; I begin to expand my leadership and involve others in sharing and learning as well.

Sustaining the momentum

Like a lot of things I start, dragging myself out of my status quo way of doing things and into the digital age will involve some backsliding. I’ll tend to go back to the familiar way of doing things (for example, running off an article to read and highlighting it manually – followed by losing it –  rather than reading, highlighting, and saving the article digitally). Fortunately, Sheryl and Lani offer help for this problem with information on how to sustain momentum.

Despite my mediocre command of digital tools, I sensed that I had learned something valuable when I turned the last page and closed The Connected Educator. I’ve learned that I am not too old, nor too far behind, to become a connected educator. And all connected educators, including me, can be leaders.

So: my Twitter handle is @ajollygal. Check in with me there. I’ve just started the Twitter community, #STEMworks, if you care to share some ideas and comments inside the Twitter-verse. I’m still feeling my way around, so be patient. But, hey – I’m connected!

Anne Jolly began her career as a lab scientist, caught the teaching bug, and became Alabama Teacher of the Year during her career as a middle grades science teacher. Today, she works with teacher teams nationwide to help them take control of their own professional learning.  Her practical how-to book, Team to Teach, is published by Learning Forward.  Anne also writes STEM curriculum and consults for an NSF-supported STEM project.  Her blog STEM Imagineering appears weekly on MiddleWeb.

The Connected Educator:  Learning and Leading in a Digital Age
By Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Lani Ritter Hall
(Solution Tree Press,  2012 -  Learn more)

Reviewed by Fran Lo

The authors call this book an “interactive professional development experience,” and throughout there are questions to reflect on (as well as some exercises using technology to do, see below.) For somebody looking for a way to become more connected to other educators using digital tools, there’s plenty of meat here.

If you already buy into the value of connecting to other educators and just want some ideas for how to do it, then see chapters 5 and 6 (“using tools” and “building your personal learning community”). Chapters 5 and 6 provide concrete practical tips, including  twitter and RSS basics, writing a blog as well as commenting on blogs, and how to decide who to “follow” (make a part of your network).

Short exercises at the end of most chapters  will give less technically inclined teachers a chance to experiment with a few online tools.  The authors have even provided a website with links to encourage experimentation with these and other free tools. There are quite a few war stories, too, with tangible examples of teachers’ experiences. The authors have also provided lots of references to research, so if you want to read more, the information is readily available. And if you just want to know what a technology term means, there’s a helpful glossary at the back.

A connected learning model

Unless you really love taxonomy, skip the chapter on “developing a connected learning model.” Here’s what you need to know: while most of the world uses these terms interchangeably, in this book  professional learning communities are within your building, personal learning networks are outside your building, and communities of practice are outside your school but focused on a specific issue for “systemic improvement.”

While the authors begin with talk about creating your own learning network, they talk almost as much about change and reform. Certainly anyone looking for broader change in education will find ideas here.

The authors are not alone in looking at using tools like Twitter to develop personal professional development. Through my own personal learning network, via an email from NCLE (National Council for Literacy Education), I discovered a blog post called, “Can Twitter Replace Traditional Professional Development,” regarding a recent conference at which this topic had been discussed. Then MiddleWeb’s John Norton pointed out this link on a U.S. Department of Education website via his Twitter feed about a book club that included asynchronous and synchronous discussions (now archived) with one of the authors of The Connected Educator. I didn’t search for these resources; they found me.

You can lurk first

One group who might feel less comfortable with all this collaboration might be those who aren’t naturally outgoing. For these teachers, lurking (being present and reading what’s going on, but not participating by tweeting or commenting on blogs, for example) is also valuable and might be an easy first step.

Regardless of how deeply you want to become committed to the constantly available professional development that’s available – free – for anyone with time and access to the Internet, you’ll find something of value here. The authors do a good job of laying out both the why and the how-to of connected learning.

Fran Lo teaches English, Social Studies, and Computer Skills to middle schoolers in Connecticut, where she enjoys blending technology into her classes.  One of her other hats is technology guru for teachers and staff.  Prior to teaching, she helped people cope with technology in small businesses, health care, and the financial industry. Besides using technology, she writes about her experiences teaching in the blended environment (part face-to-face, part online) using tools like Moodle on her blog Adventures in online teaching. Find her MiddleWeb review of Frank Buck’s Organization Made Easy! Tools for Today’s Teachers here.

In another MiddleWeb review, read Anne Jolly’s take on The Connected Educator.