How to #TeachStrong in Nevada
By Ben Dickson and Jennifer Noland
Go to any professional development workshop, conference or course where educators are present and you will notice one common theme: we educators love to talk.
There’s a constant buzz of chatter as we share the latest updates about our classrooms, schools, and districts. We catch up, complain, ask questions and seek connectivity to our peers.
But how can we create that collaboration beyond the walls of our individual schools and, in some cases, establish a culture within a school that supports a network of professional learning?
As educators in Nevada, we desired this type of support network. In 2015, as Fellows with America Achieves — an organization dedicated to promoting teacher leadership — we had the opportunity to create it.
We envisioned a way to promote the positive teaching and learning occurring in Nevada classrooms and provide a window into the classroom through social media. The Twitter handle @TeachNVACS (Nevada Academic Content Standards) started as a way to curate and promote what was happening in Nevada classrooms around academic standards.
So how did a simple Twitter handle grow into a professional learning network for educators across the state? We started by asking, and most importantly listening, to the needs of teachers. The common theme became clear: teachers yearn for the time and space to collaborate.
Soon, we had a cohort of 17 educators who opened up their classrooms and schools using social media. Elementary teachers shared resources and high school teachers took those ideas and adapted them to their classrooms. Principals, teachers, and instructional coaches engaged in meaningful conversations with one another around best practices, assessment, and student learning.
Teachers participated in Twitter chats and collaborated on developing an understanding of the standards and best practices for all students. Cohort members testified at legislative hearings and engaged with policy makers to provide teacher voice to statewide educational issues. 2015 saw @TeachNVACS grow and become much more than we had envisioned morphing from a way to show teachers how to use social media to a support network that provided collaboration and personal professional development.
We’re growing, too. Our second cohort of over 50 educators comprises first year teachers, alternative route to licensure candidates, veteran teachers, instructional coaches, department leaders, administrators, and educators from higher education.
We are seeing more collaboration between policy makers and education organizations too, like the TeachStrong coalition. TeachStrong is a group of over fifty education organizations who have aligned around nine principles, designed to modernize and elevate the teaching profession. Just as the TeachStrong campaign aims to support teachers in the profession and support teachers to succeed, @TeachNVACS is providing a network for veteran and new teachers to come together, and is working to connect educators across Nevada, the United States and the planet.
@TeachNVACS and TeachStrong are working to create an outlet to support all educators and ensure that each child has a high quality teacher in their classroom, not just for one year, but for their entire school career.
Ben Dickson and Jennifer Noland
@TeachNVACS
Ben Dickson is currently the Dean of Students in Reno, Nevada and is an America Achieves National Fellow.
Jennifer Noland is a 4th grade teacher in Reno, Nevada, an America Achieves National Fellow, and 2015 Elementary Teacher of the Year in Washoe County School District.
