Connected Learning is for everyone.

Scott Glass's personal story about integrating Twitter and Twitter chats within his English classroom to increase engagement, as well as create a connected learning classroom, is very enlightening. It seems that a common tie between many of these CL Personal Stories is that connected learning is for everyone.

The key takeaway from Glass's implementation of social media in the classroom is as follows:

"You can’t talk about art and creativity without doing it — teachers model exploration, experimentation, not just accepting failures but expecting them."

I really appreciate this piece of advice. I feel like many teachers are wonderful facilitators of learning for their students, but really, that's it. It's important to provide support and resources for your students, all the while, interacting with them and demonstrating your creativity and experimentation along the way. Glass's advice rings true in the aspect that students pay a lot of attention to everything their teachers do, especially at an impressionable age. If we can demonstrate participation in our classroom by being a participant, and therefore failing occasionally, it may increase student contributions.

This takeaway will definitely be adapted in my own future classroom. I will interact with my students in ways that encourage participation and engagement, as well as create a thriving connected learning community.