I can say from experience that having an online presence, and fostering its growth, is extremely important and beneficial. As far as a "brand" goes, I am still figuring that part out. My career and passions are so varied that I don't want to pigeonhole myself and miss making connections. I try to simply present myself as a creative, a teacher, and a learner. Specifically, the actions I try and take on a regular basis include: post pictures of my classroom, my school, my life; write online; publish articles; tweet regularly; update online resumes/portfolio sites (work-in-progress); and create and publish something creative on a frequent basis.

My biggest motivation for doing all of this is to model for my students. Model online presence. Model lifelong learning. Model how to brand oneself. They RARELY get to see this, and well, they need to be able to ask questions, give feedback, and evaluate what works and what doesn't. Their feedback has been invaluable. They are ruthless and honest, and I love it. If I publish something, I often ask them for feedback immediately. They detect tone, they detect an uncommon cultural reference, they detect the lifelong lesson. They see someone growing professionally, taking risks, and reaching out. Sometimes I ask them to define me off of my online presence. It's a funny discussion - and it creates a dialogue to help us all understand what actions online mean.

While I was busy having kids, I stopped posting stuff online. It definitely hurt me professionally. I did all of these cool, innovative, creative activities with my students and staff, but I didn't share it online. No one knew. And that's just what I was giving to the community. I didn't realize how much I missed out until I became active again online. With that said, when I was ready to come back, the support was overwhelming. I have not looked back.

When you have a voice online, when you represent yourself, everyone can know you without being in the same room. People can recognize your vision, your passion, your commitment. I have had teachers a mile down the road talk to me about something I updated on my profile. They could recognize that I was a resource to them, and it drew a deeper connection. It allowed for better sharing. Having an online presence has also increased my relationships with students. That's what they do... they want to "preview" a person before investing time in someone. If they can google me, and find out what makes me tick, then it allows for better conversations in class.

I am not sure how to encapsulate in a small comment how important community is in our profession. I would be nothing without my peers. They inspire me everyday. They push me to be better. My online presence also serves as a reflection of the people with whom I surround myself. I don't know how that fits in the branding discussion, but it is a small truth about online identity. A big portion of that online presence is what you give back to those who help you grow.

Piper, I hope this helps with the questions you posed. Let me know if you want any more information, specific case examples, or specific websites.

I am struggle annually with many of the things that Marcia mentioned. (I am the yearbook adviser at my HS - 9th year running.) And, believe me, it takes special building leadership to understand what an undertaking the yearbook actually is. This one commitment is not understood by many. And those who do understand it (my friends, family, and other advisers [active or inactive]) often ask why I even stay with it. To be honest, it is the ONE class wherein I get to teach - and I mean wholly teach - real-world skills with a realistic small business setting using industry-standard software and equipment. (I am certain that without our journalism classes our district would have cut all proprietary software purchases out years ago.) And so, for that $1/hour pay rate for the extra time it takes to produce the book, here are a few token rewards I reaped this year: one of my old editors is up for editor-in-chief at a ranked collegiate newspaper because of her knowledge and expertise walking onto campus; another student stopped in to thank me for adequately preparing him for collegiate world/ job life; and a grad from last year, as well as a grad from three years ago, got hired at a local graphic design office. And those small things are the things that have to keep me going. These small tokens come about 3-4 time per year - and these are the things that keep me teaching this one class of many.

Daily, and I mean daily, I wonder about the state of education. How we will continue to attract, not just competent, by exceptional candidates for teaching, how my husband and I can keep our household budget healthy while the state keeps cutting funding (my pay is in its 3rd year of decline/we are both in educ.), how I can keep staying enthusiastic while acquaintances and family tell me I earn too much for the time I put in ('cause I get all those summers off, yeah right), how my students will possibly compete in a global market when many have just not read enough to stay competitive... These are the topics that keep me up at night.

Then to top it off, many people just plainly believe that if I am challenging my kids, I am doing something wrong - cause the knowledge just isn't "coming" to the kids - as if working the brain muscle is just plain wrong.

So, how does one keep the fire? Here are my suggestions:

1.) Read. Read for ideas, read for escape, read for skill building. Get away from the daily nonsense for just a second. (I also find a remote coffeehouse allows for uninterrupted reflection and reading time.)

2.) Find a mentor. Not a "school-given-job-descript" mentor, I mean someone who you can be completely honest with and someone who has enough experience to offer genuine feedback and question your thinking. Go out for bevs, talk, plan another meeting time before you leave. These small conversations about life and profession will prove invaluable and help one balance the day-to-day stresses.

3.) Find humor in the everyday stress of things. If you can buddy up with a couple of teachers and just laugh at the ridiculousness of some of the policies/ decisions/ outcomes then there is a small release.

4.) Enjoy the kids for what they bring. They are still moldable, shapable, creative beings. They do have dreams. They have hope.

5.) Watch an inspiring movie about a teacher overcoming great obstacles. Mr. Holland's Opus was on TV the other night. Yes, it is an anomaly to what we typically experience day-to-day, but inspiring nonetheless.

6.) Make short term and long term goals for yourself. They can be technology skills, job-related, job-focused, or something else, but when individuals are striving for something - they typically are happier and can find value in their endeavors.

Hope this helps,

Kelly

Are you asking for sites? apps? projects? lessons?

D.)all of the above?

How strong is the sense of community in your school? Is there much collaboration?

Thanks for posting this! I will have to check this out for my students.

I also am looking for resources to help with this concept.

Our students are so behind with regard to where the trends are going...

What was the process in getting FLA colleges to accept the ACA as a "test-out" for a college class? (Am I reading this correctly?)

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Kelly

As always we hope for collaboration, but our staffing is so tight that I will probably be flying on my own; however, one of my classes is a co-taught so there will be two of us to help the process. And my co-teacher is an artist so we won't be lacking creativity. :-)

The timeline has yet to be determined.. A calendar will be included on EdExchg once I get it smoothed out.

I would like to make the work more workshop-based, wherein students become owners, editors, and EVALUATORS right up front so their knowledge grows deeper faster. So, as far as evaluation - yes, there will be a rubric, but it won't just be teacher-evaluated. Self-, peer-, and teacher-evaluations will all be part of the process. (And in a perfect scenario, I will get industry professionals involved and have them come in and give feedback.)

Great question, TJ.

This has been at the forefront of my thought processes. As an English teacher, I keep thinking about the question "Why do students (or anyone) write?" What drives a writer? And it goes back to communication and audience. A writer has something to say. Often in a traditional classroom, there is a lack of authentic audience, or there is not enough opportunity to develop writing into a final product that teaches 21st century skill sets. I have watched this all too often - papers are assigned, papers collected, grades disseminated.

So... let's look at the requirements - personal narrative, research paper, observation paper, etc. This year the plan is to translate those writings into multimedia projects using the Creative Suite. Personal narrative gets turned into a multi-layer visual poster using Photoshop and/or Illustrator. Symbols from the writing are developed into graphics, with emphasis on key literary terms (i.e. symbol, metaphor, simile, personification, rhythm, repetitiion). Many of the terms and concepts in writing translate well into design - students will increase their acuity for how the verbal and the visual play off of each other and need each other to fully develop a concept. (Details for this project will be posted in Ed Exchange at a later date.)

As our state journeys from the Michigan Merit Curriculum toward Common Core, the "content" we are supposed to teach stays pretty much the same, but what students are supposed to do with this content changes - the verbs (the do-words) got revised to be more active. For this, I am excited!