I had the privilege of attending and presenting at my first International Society of Technology Educators (ISTE12) conference last month in June.

I was joined by six Connected Educators from across the US who agreed to join me on this panel. For those that may not know, the panel was specifically targeted to the support of new teachers. No surprise there, right? I entitled the panel Collaborative Mentoring for New Teachers and you can read all about it and my colleagues who joined me here.

The real beauty of the ISTE experience for me, was that it supported the idea of how important and valuable it is to be connected as an educator. By that I don’t mean just in your building or district but connected through the power of social media. At this event, I met so many wonderful friends, as I call them, that I’d known on Twitter for several years, but had never met face to face. In fact, none of the educators on my panel live anywhere near, Southern California (my home)! And yet, through the connections I have built with them over my past two and half years on Twitter… I feel like they live in my own backyard.

As a new teacher, learning how to connect with others outside of your school and comfort zone is invaluable. Stretching yourself to grow as an educator by experimenting with social media (beyond facebook), on Twitter, Blogging or even Pinterest, is a must!

Fortunately, not all my pals live 1000’s of miles away. I do have a few educator buddies that live close by and one of those is a very talented educator named Bill Selak. You can find Bill on Twitter @billselak and blogging at http://www.billselak.com/.

Bill and I were both at ISTE and actually attended a few fun events together. We both agreed that having the time to bring our on-line connections alive and experience new learning there, was memorable. Not wanting to let the fun of last months ISTE event slip by, I wanted to be sure to share our podcast on my blog.

It’s the ISTEcast 2012 with Lisa and Bill!

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I had a blast “connecting” with Bill to create this podcast, and see this as just the beginning of other fun broadcasts we will be doing, going forward!

Connecting to a Twitter buddy at ISTE!

The month of August 2012 has been declared as Connected Educators Month! I’d like to think that Bill and I are already on our way to adding to the theme of this fun month by having shared our podcast.

I’d like to now urge you to take the month of August 2012 and plan to get connected! Check out the great resources that are on the Connected Educators website and choose a project, or attend a twitter chat or webinar. Also check out Connected Educators on Twitter @edcocp and the hashtag #ce12. Follow and stay updated with all the good stuff going on in August. Lastly I will be live tweeting from @ConnectedEd on Wednesday, August 22, 2012, tweeting my experiences as a “connected educator” to share with others!

So…here comes the challenge! Are you connected beyond your classroom walls, or as a pre-service teacher, beyond your University campus? Share with me in the comments below what you will commit to do the month of August to become a Connected Educator! I’d love to hear from you!

Photo credit: educator_with_a_heart via flickr

Photo credit:  educator_with_a_heart via flickr