Reaching out to others

A pre-service educator excitedly posting in the Connected Educator Book club and others celebrating her posts and offering support

Passioned comments in the backchannel chat of a webinar session around the need to burn bridges and start a revolution

A Honduran educator reaching out to those in webinar not as competent as he, answering "how to" questions

Seasoned and novice educators in a forum lamenting those who they view as unconnected

An Israeli teacher sharing a story of her course which brings adversary cultures (Israeli and Arab) to collaborate and learn more about each other as they learn in online spaces

It's Connected Educator month--
All of August--
With grand opportunities to share, to collaborate, to reach out to others in webinars and forums--
The #CE12 hashtag on Twitter flows like a swift river, rich with resources and suggestions--
There is a 31 day starter kit for those wanting to learn more about being connected--

Those in webinars, in forums, on Twitter share a common passion for immersion in connected learning. It's an exciting time to be a connected educator-- the potential for making new connections and learning abounds.

And yet I'm wondering, have we reached in effective ways to those currently not connected? Have you?

Those not connected don't see the #CE12 twitter stream. Those not connected don't know of the blog posts. Those unconnected likely won't be in the discussion forums, or the book club, or the webinars.

What if every connected educator made a special effort to reach out to a colleague that's unconnected?

If school hasn't yet begun, what if they invited a grade level team member, a fellow faculty member over for coffee to participate in a webinar together. If school has started, what if they invited those unconnected colleagues to read some of the forum responses with them on topics for which they have an interest? What if they shared with their grade level teams something they learned in the book club or a forum, inviting the team to explore that together? What if they sat with their administrator, for a moment, exploring a professional learning forum together?

If each one reaches out to one, imagine the possibilities-- for all of our professional learning and that of our students.

Image: 'take my hand'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25384802@N08/5079637921