My role is to make others look good!

 One of the best parts of my job is the ability to make others' look good and make sure that they celebrate their successes.  I have been able to assist colleagues with their learning and then I get to watch how they were able to build upon those skills and create some great projects with and for their students.
This month I helped to organize a Conference for our teacher-librarians and it was a great success.  I enjoyed being behind the scenes to help make the day run smoothly.  Many colleagues appreciated the time that the committee spent to make sure the day was valuable to all. I felt quite at home among my fellow teacher-librarians and felt that my leadership skills were put to good use. One of the presenters was from another school board and she was impressed with the excitement and collegiality of our teacher-librarians.
I also spent time working with high school teachers this month and I really enjoyed getting to know teachers from a wide range of departments.  I wasn't sure that I would be able to support high school teachers effectively as my teaching experience has always been in the elementary panel. The challenge for me was to find a way to make GAFE activities relevant to the subjects they teach.  The small group setting was non-threatening for all and many felt confident to begin a new assessment or assignment with their students.  Although I offered my email to many, to keep the learning going, I think that just knowing they could contact me helped some to take the next step in their learning.
The teachers who volunteered to attend these sessions were keen to learn and demonstrated a growth mindset.  Most of the time the learning sessions began with a basic understanding of the potential of Google apps.  I had the chance to return to the same high schools a week or two later and observe the progress!  It was amazing when we returned to a high school and 20 teachers had volunteered to stay after work.  Two of the staff members had grown into staff leaders in the two weeks.   I learned many new features about Google Classroom from these new colleagues.
It was a great feeling to share on Twitter and with my IRT team some the various activities that these teachers had tried with their students and colleagues.
It was exciting as an IRT to see how a little encouragement can lead to great things!
I can't wait to see what develops this month!