FTA Annual Meeting - Commit to Just One

After spending almost a year traveling around the state and the country I have been looking forward to the opportunity to speak on my own soil and it was especially fun to have the opportunity to speak with my colleagues at the annual meeting of the Framingham Teachers Association. I have already challenged my colleagues to stand up and be counted, to speak out when they feel strongly and to advocate for their students and our profession but tonight I wanted to challenge them to do even more.

Everyday the chasm between the teachers that integrate technology and those that don’t grows wider. Teachers can do something to stem the tide. Tonight I asked my fellow teachers to join me in a campaign I call Just One. Today I asked Framingham teachers to commit to inviting one colleague who hasn’t yet begun to use technology to join them in a project they are already doing with their students, invite one colleague to learn to use an interactive whiteboard with them, show one colleague how you use a document camera to improve their instruction, share a way technology helped enhance a lesson, or suggest a useful website to just one colleague. I challenged them to partner with a colleague’s class for a webquest, share an article or an interactive game with a colleague, or help just one colleague to build a basic webpage. Imagine the power that could result from every technologically savvy teacher in Framingham mentoring just one colleague for just one thing? This kind of viral campaign could have tremendous impact on our profession and our students.

I have been so proud to represent all my colleagues this year as the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. Not as the best but as an ambassador of all the best teachers I have had the pleasure of working with and alongside here in Framingham