Simply put, educators are some of the most dynamic, creative, brilliant people on the planet. When we work alone, our effectiveness will be capped at our own potential. When we work together, our brilliance will only be capped by our own egos and pride. So how can we best leverage our collective expertise?

Attending a large number of conferences each year, and running a number of Future Ready events, I have the opportunity to work alongside so many educators from coast to coast. The more I work alongside them, whether it's running a full day workshop, helping a school district open their school year, or working alongside district leaders, the more I realize that it's imperative that we leverage the collective brilliance of the room, regardless of the setting. Our kids deserve this type of maximized experience, and when organizing professional learning, our educators do too!

Over the past few months, I've had the opportunity to run a number of sessions for teachers, which started as sessions entitled, "Tools for Engagement." For the session, I'd model a handful of tools for efficiency, management, and engagement, and then give participants time to explore and then crowdsource their favorite digital tools as well. Upon leaving the collaborative session, all participants would leave with a copy of the creation we had developed together.

This past week at FETC, I had the opportunity to do this session again, alongside about 100 educators from all over the country. Upon completion of the session, a participant asked, "Can we share this document with those we work with?" My response? "Better yet, share it with every educator that you know that can benefit." In an effort to try and practice what I preach, I want to share the crowdsourced resource with YOU ALL as well. So, here it is...

URL: bit.ly/ToolsForEngagement

Feel free to make a copy of the document and do with it what you'd like....and a special thank you to the few hundred educators that have crowdsourced this resource in our sessions! I hope you found our time together useful, collaborative, and fun.

All for the kids we serve,
Tom