Blogtoberfest, Day 30: Bjorn Paige

How have connections with other professionals improved your practice? Today's entry is from Bjorn Paige, Assistant Principal at La Costa Canyon High School:

I get kidded by some colleagues for my tweeting (lots of photos and a pinch of what I hope comes across as wit), just as I've been chuckled at for my weekly emails to parents; “Your Wilfred Brimley moment,” a fellow administrator calls it, not altogether disparagingly.

The folks who don’t kid me about these electronic communications are parents, and increasingly students. This audience, what we call our “Maverick Family,” have given me such positive feedback for my digital missives, that when I was given this opportunity to write about how professional connections have affected me, my first thought was the profound connections social media and more traditional electronic communication have given me to the people I strive to serve.

My professional communication with this audience: parents, students, as well as grandparents, guardians, aunts and uncles, makes me a better educator, and to be honest, it started with one of those wonderful accidents that can define life: When I took on sending out our school’s “E-News,” an electronic newsletter posted on our website, I set up the email so if one of the recipients hit “reply” they got me. And did they ever hit reply.

Each Monday I now look forward to a slew of responses to the email I send to the LCC community. It’s an email in which I do my best to paint a picture of what’s happening on campus in a paragraph or two, introducing the newsletter. As often as I hear back on specific items in the E-News, I also get comments on everything from the parking lot to upcoming musical recitals, big games, student events, and even questions about what we’re serving for lunch and the lost and found. I answer them all, and through this professional connection with my parents, students, and others, I stay connected with my school community.

Last Winter I took my experience with the E-News as a launching pad and blasted off into the Twittersphere. What a wonderful ride.

I’m still figuring out how best to use Twitter, but so far I've been served well by this analogy: I see my Twitter feed as a mosaic of life at La Costa Canyon High School. Every day I add a small piece of tile (a photo from the dance show, an observation from homecoming, a link to the ASB prom video) and collectively they help to create an honest image of our great school.

I’m excited for the big changes coming to education, and to our society. I’m not so arrogant as to believe that I have all the answers, but I am thankful that I work with so many great people who, like me, are asking questions, lots and lots of questions, and pushing ourselves and our schools forward into this brave new world. Paradigms shift, and I’ll be there to tweet it @BjornPaige!