The Wonder of It All

It was a quiet night on the east coast when ocean roars were heard as far away as the Canadian prairies. While no travel was involved, Long Island, New York connected with Regina, Saskatchewan. At 9:00 EDT on August 6, 2015 magic happened. Digital vibrations stirred the Twitter lines and link-ups were made from around the United States and Canada. It was there that eduvoices explored the power of wondering. 

As East Coast met the Canadian prairies a sense of wonder inspired us to see the world through a different lens. Collaborative conversations started immediately with a series of questions that prompted all to explore the act of wondering and how it impacts learning. Question 1, state three words associated with wonder, fostered thinking outside the box. Words like breath, nudge, nurture, re-imagine inspired chat participants to passionately immerse themselves in the topic of wondering.

Wonderopolis joined our group spreading the joy of discovering wonder on a daily basis. Through the interactive discussion, wonder became the main character opening the world of possibilities for our students and for us adults who appreciate life and its richness. As we continued our conversation, we journeyed to a philosophical place rooted in inspired teaching. The act of wondering led us to amazing thoughts and WONDERful #eduinspirations that you can peruse below.

You may want to display these edu-inspirational posters in classrooms to inspire learners.

Childhood Wonder
by @journeynorthED

@journeynorthED

For connected educations, the wonder of edu-chatting to extend our professional lives can be a daily Twitter experience. Taking the learning back to the building and classroom is where real work begins.

Thank you Kelly Christopherson, #saskedchat moderator, for affording me the opportunity to discuss an awesome topic, wonder, with your Canadian colleagues (whom I added to my global PLN) and my educator friends from around the states and as far away as Vietnam. We all benefitted from the collaborative conversation that will provide sparks for innovative learning during the 2015-16 school year. 

Kelly curated the #saskedchat on Discovering Wonder for posterity. Now everyone can rewind the Twitter button and uncover the amazing flow of thoughtful comments that rocked the Twittersphere as a trending chat on August 6, 2015. Please go here and here for the archives. As Kelly says it was an "Edu-Awesome" event. 

May the act of wondering lead you to new discoveries this school year.

Please travel over to Two Writing Teachers for the Tuesday Slice of Life. There you will find many engaging posts from educators.