Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Bravo to The Lady Leaders Who Are Bloggers and Tweeters!

I’m often asked by innovative educators for ideas for getting their school leaders to join the conversation and begin blogging or tweeting. They want their school leaders to join the conversation and to respect and value the thoughts, opinions, and ideas of other educators accessible in new ways as a result of digital media.

I’ve written a few posts recently in response to this.
If you’ve read these posts you’ll notice that missing among these bloggers and tweeters are the voices of two groups that I am a part of females and those who work in New York City. Fortunately social media enables me to connect with others outside my vicinity of NYC, but I’m disappointed that the voices of these two groups are not more prominent and wonder why there are not more blogging and tweeting female or NYC school leaders. Our voices are important!

As a result, I have reached out to a few NYC principals to encourage them to get on board and join these other educational visionaries who are sharing ideas for leading and learning in the 21st century. I also shared my disappointment with the absence of these groups on Twitter and was thrilled to get this Tweet in response. teachingwthsoul @InnovativeEdu Yes :) Here's 3~>@Edship http://edship.com/ @Averyteach http://bit.ly/bXnHqq @L_Hilt http://principalposts.edublogs.org.
teachingwthsoul @InnovativeEdu Hope the women I sent your way, reach out. As a former Principal, gender equity is important to me. :)

Ah, I love my learning network. So thanks to Lisa Dabbs (aka @teachingwthsoul) a former principal who resides in California, I share with you these female leaders who are also bloggers and tweeters.

Lynn H
Tweets @Edship
Blogs @ http://edship.com
About (per her blog) I am an elementary school principal in a large diverse district. The purpose of this website is to give a glance into the real world of Elementary Education from the eye of an administrator. Many of my experiences were never studied in a text book or given in lecture. No one ever mentioned that when a student threw up in my office I would be sick for a week or that a staff member would give an obscene hand gesture in a staff meeting. Who knew that parents when frightened or did not get their way could become shaming, disrespectful and abusive. No one mentioned that when I anonymously made a difference in a child’s life that my heart would stop and tears would come to my eyes, or that I would witness gifted teaching beyond description or a community of families that worked tirelessly to help their children. It is my hope that this information will support other educational leaders, help teachers, parents and force me to grow as a leader. Ultimately, I hope this website and blog will do what is best for kids and support their journey as scholars.

Lyn Hilt
Tweets @L_Hilt
Blogs @ http://principalposts.edublogs.org
About (from Connected Principals Blog) Lyn Hilt is the principal of Brecknock Elementary School, located in beautiful Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Her school community is comprised of enthusiastic student learners, dedicated staff, and supportive parents. Mrs. Hilt has an affinity for educational technologies and infusing 21st century skills into the curriculum. She enjoys lunches in the cafeteria, spending recess time with students, world travel, and loving her two rescued greyhounds. Before becoming a principal, she taught grades 5 and 6, served as an elementary technology teacher, and coached field hockey. To read more of Mrs. Hilt’s reflections, visit The Principal’s Posts.

Janet Avery
Tweets @Averyteach
Blogs @ http://averyteach.blogspot.com
About (from her blog) I am a mom, a teacher, a wife, and a principal. I am in my third year as principal of a large rural middle school in Idaho. I hope to instill passion for learning in my staff, students, husband, and children. I have entitled my blog spot as The Tiger Principal because that is the mascot of my school. We Tigers have a lot of pride - I couldn't represent my staff and students without including our mascot!
Jeanette Morehouse

Tweets @ThePedAgog
Blogs @ http://pedagogagog.blogspot.com  
About (from her Twitter bio):  Pedagogue, principal, PYP teacher and lover of life, I believe in keeping the 'agog' in pedagogy for the sake of our children and the future!

I’d love to add to the list. If you are (or know) a female leader who is a blogger and tweeter, please comment here and I’ll keep the list growing.

5 comments:

  1. I am glad you wrote this Lisa. I am SO honoured that all of the women that you have mentioned in this post are also contributors to the Connected Principals blog. They have amazing ideas and passion for education, and I am so glad that they are not only part of the site, but I get to learn from them as well. Thanks for writing this.

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  2. @George Couros, that is great to hear! My next mission is to get some NYC leaders who are bloggers and tweeters! When I do, I'll make sure I connect them with you and the Connected Principals blog :-)

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  3. Hi! Yes I'm a principal at an international school in Norway, have just moved into the world of blogging and tweeting, am female AND have a special interest in early childhood.
    Still finding my niche with my blog, Pedagogue Agog. I hope to use it to communicate with passionate educators and parents and to start conversations about the issues that are important especially in my local community.
    my blog is at
    http://pedagogagog.blogspot.com

    I have also started a blog on which I will be putting all of our staff memos, rather than emailing them out. I want to encourage staff to look at blogging as an effective means of communication, that has the benefit of being open and enabling shared conversations. i'll let you know how successful it is!

    Cheers,
    Jeanette

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  4. @Jeanette, thank you for sharing your blog here. Please message me on Facebook or email me (lnielsen.professional@gmail.com) your info in the format I have above and I'll add you to the post. If you haven't already reach out to George Couros (see comment above) about contributing to his Connected Principals blog.

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  5. I'm a lady leader tweeter! Put me on your list please! @pamholcomb
    Thank you for such a timely article. We are lady leaders; hear us roar!!

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