As teachers we are constantly influenced by those in the profession and those in our lives. We take an opportunity to celebrate our tenth show by acknowledging those top ten influences in our lives. We will cover those in the podcasting/Twitter world, those authors/presenters we constantly quote and those a bit more personal to our world. Join us and reflect on your own influencers. Maybe you will make some of ours yours.
Our Top 10
Our spouses and families- They are the people that know that we were made for this. They truly believe that our students need us and are willing to give up some of their time with them outside of our contractual hours, to allow us to positively impact our students lives.@twoguysde (https://pedalogical.org) - These guys are a phenomenal follow for educators and leaders looking for inspiration. Their positive views of education are an inspiration every time they pop up on our twitter feed!Previous Educators - These are the teachers that we had in our years of schooling, which we strive to be for our students. That one or two (hopefully more) teacher(s) that hooked you and made you feel as though your presence in their class was valued daily. Or maybe they were just entertaining and they made you love their class. Positive Colleagues - These are the people that stop in to share good news, ask how your weekend was, or just share a funny story about their students. They sure notice when you're in a funk, and their presence alone in a quick conversation reminds you why were there! YOU ROCK!Random Refocus Strategy - For Tom it is making "2 Minute Reviews" on YouTube and for Luke it is reading student letters and watching corny teaching movies. What gets you reenergized and refocused? Please share your ideas in the comments! @BrianMendler - Need help getting through to your toughest students? This educator has it down to a science! He is a must follow on social media and has a great book titled: Discipline with Dignity http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/118018/chapters/Introduction@-What-Is-Discipline-with-Dignity¢.aspx@Gcouros - @Brewerhm - A breath of fresh air! Hailing from New Zealand, Hamish Brewer is a RELENTLESS principal. He is currently motivating his students at Fred Lynn Middle School in Woodbridge, Virginia and he will blow your mind with his approach to bettering his students educational experience. He will make you want to run to your classroom and start shaking things up immediately. @RickWormeli2 - Rick is a genius when it comes to Standards Based Grading and properly assessing students (among other things). He is a must follow on social media. We've both had the good fortune of experiencing a Wormeli presentation and both feel he is an excellent speaker and presenter! Get online and watch some of his videos or find a way to see him present. It will make you a better teacher! @AudacityToPodcast -