Over a year ago, in July of 2014, a lady walked into an interview for a position as a District Instructional Technologist. On that interview panel was a guy who passionately coached teachers into fully embracing technology as an instructional tool. You'd think it was a professional match at first sight (with similar passions and all). That was not the case. We both loved our jobs and worked well with teachers but "working well together" didn't come right away.
Six or seven months later, we finally made a connection. As months passed, we became a great team and even good friends (most days). You can't always tell this though. Most people think of friends as people who seem to enjoy each other's company and stick together. Our team might disagree with that assessment of us. The truth is that we fight like brother and sister. If anyone on the team is going to question or disagree about a project, a vision, or even an email draft, it will be us. But with all that questioning, new ideas and better visions surfaced. A habit was developed: to never accept the status quo without some serious proof that it was the best available option.
We learned to trust that the other had the best intentions when providing feedback. A culture of freedom to speak and provide feedback of praise and criticism, whether it was solicited or not, became the norm. That partnership and culture have become a transcendent force for self-improvement and have led to visionary plans for our teachers.
Our goal is to share and engage you in our experience. Whether we are arguing or agreeing, we want to share our thoughts with educators everywhere because the power is in the conversation. If educators from all roles across the world would embrace the idea that we should honestly QUESTION our procedures, ideas, and even peers, we could grow tremendously as we assess and change the things that needed changing. Einstein once said "The important thing is not to stop questioning." I'm sure many of us attempt to instill that idea in each of the students that enter our schools. Are we still living that notion? Are we questioning and seeking improvement?
We look forward to sharing how we QuestionEd with you!
Six or seven months later, we finally made a connection. As months passed, we became a great team and even good friends (most days). You can't always tell this though. Most people think of friends as people who seem to enjoy each other's company and stick together. Our team might disagree with that assessment of us. The truth is that we fight like brother and sister. If anyone on the team is going to question or disagree about a project, a vision, or even an email draft, it will be us. But with all that questioning, new ideas and better visions surfaced. A habit was developed: to never accept the status quo without some serious proof that it was the best available option.
We learned to trust that the other had the best intentions when providing feedback. A culture of freedom to speak and provide feedback of praise and criticism, whether it was solicited or not, became the norm. That partnership and culture have become a transcendent force for self-improvement and have led to visionary plans for our teachers.
Our goal is to share and engage you in our experience. Whether we are arguing or agreeing, we want to share our thoughts with educators everywhere because the power is in the conversation. If educators from all roles across the world would embrace the idea that we should honestly QUESTION our procedures, ideas, and even peers, we could grow tremendously as we assess and change the things that needed changing. Einstein once said "The important thing is not to stop questioning." I'm sure many of us attempt to instill that idea in each of the students that enter our schools. Are we still living that notion? Are we questioning and seeking improvement?
We look forward to sharing how we QuestionEd with you!