What does it mean to be a "Connected Educator"?

I am in the final week of my M.A. program in librarianship, finishing up two courses in Leadership and Digital Communication. The instructor of the latter course has asked us this question for our final assignment: What does it mean to be a "Connected Educator"?

The textbook we have been reading, What Connected Educators Do Differently, argues that Connected Educators go beyond being online and instead, correspond online. That means giving as well as taking. This idea struck a chord with me, because I have been an avid reader of blogs and the "ALA Think Tank" Facebook group for years now. However, my participation has been quite limited. I always felt like I didn't have anything valuable to contribute.

For one of our assignments in this course, we had to participate in two Twitter Chats. The instructions said we had to write at least four tweets during the chat, and when I read this I thought, "how in the world am I supposed to do that? What if I don't have anything to say?" But the reality was the opposite! I found, with both chats, that I had plenty to say. I asked questions, responded to others' tweets, and shared my own ideas. I never felt incompetent or insignificant. I wonder now if what I thought of as humility was really me devaluing my own expertise.

So, I've been thinking about what it means to be "Connected," and it really comes down to one's  professional learning network (PLN), which is essentially an online PLC. Once connected--usually through social media--you can have discussions, share resources, celebrate successes, and learn from each others' failures.

As I move into the world of school librarianship, I know that isolation is a big risk. I will be the only librarian in my school, with only one other librarian in the district. My online PLN is my biggest resource, but I can't expect to just take from them all the time. As I muddle through the next few years, I'm sure some of my experiments will fail, and others will be brilliant. I plan to share them all!

In addition to reading and writing blogs, I will continue to participate in my Facebook group. I will continue to follow librarians and other educators on Twitter, and use the plethora of resources they are always posting. "IRL" colleagues are important, but the varied experiences and perspectives of my online PLN is also invaluable, and I am very grateful for them.