Reflecting on aspects of my professional life in this very public forum allows me to grow. I didn't realize that anyone else was actually reading until I was utterly honored and shocked, in late November, to get an informal EduBlog nomination, in the "New Blog" category from The Daring Librarian herself. I thought there must have been a typo. In all honesty, Gwyneth Jones was an early and vocal supporter of my blog. She is truly one of the field's Rock Stars, so it was a boost, and a a rather big one, to my morale to get this nod from her. Not only did Gwyneth re-engage me by that nomination, she may not realize it but she's forcing me to pick up the pen again and start writing. Thank you so much, Gwyneth. Time to stop watching the river flow by and get on out there and ride the waves.
The Professional Learning Network (or #PLN for all you Twitter-ites, myself included) I've developed during the last year and a half has been foundational to me. And I don't say that lightly. From brick & mortar colleagues here at The Moretown School to educators and teacher librarians across the country, from authors and illustrators, to book lovers and critics, my PLN is growing and growing and has become an integral network that supports the work that I do, right here in my beautiful, albeit rainy and raw at the moment, Mad River Valley. All this time keyboarding away, all this screen time consuming your tweets, blog posts, and chats hasn't been for nought. Oh no. It's all swirling around inside me. All of this consumption is helping me formulate my own thoughts on matters, and giving me connections to the books that matter and the pedagogies that help students shine. If all I ever do is reflect a little bit more, share back a little bit more in depth, and contribute to my professional field by enriching another's practice or perceptions, then this blog will be worth it.
