Scoping It Out

Reposted with permission. The original post along with other thought provoking pieces can by found on Valerie's Blog. She can also be found on Twitter @iamvlewis

Where it All Began

So, who has time to sit around and chit chat when it [time] holds us hostage? I find that people make time for the things they want and fit them into their schedules no matter what. This could be spending time with the family, other meetings that take priority, reading a book or scheduling in a nap. No matter what tickles your fancy–teachers are usually passionate about teaching and getting better at helping students learn. Some of us are married to this profession and invested in this relationship that we can often lose ourselves in the chaos of it all.

In April 2016, 5 educators: Sarah Thomas, Valerie Lewis, Knikole Taylor, Toutoule Ntoya, and Derek Larson (connected through the our EduMatchvoxer group) sat around defending the idea that we had a life outside of school and were normal humans. We agreed that we weren’t always married to education (despite what society thought). We thought of how some of us were lovers of photography, culinary, sewing and great lyricists that could sound off on a battle rap with mic dropping moments. We were so LIT on the idea that we decided the world needed to see us in a different light. Teachers were cool and how awesome it would be to share that with others.

Where and when will we show them (as though it was a special request)?

We would use Periscope as our stage! Since we all lived in different parts of the country we knew that it would be a challenge for us all to be in the same place at the same time BUT not if we could “pass the scope”— and so the idea was born.

What started as us talking smack has now grown into a community of 80+ members. A good 1/4 of that number holds it down religiously every 3rd Thursday of every month.

Where We Are Now

One year later, we realize we truly are married to education. We cannot deny it! Our scopes were not a showcase of our talents but instead a true focus on our love for teaching. We are the experts in the room using our own voice, truths, and experiences that we often find can be unique or very similar to others. We are a learning community that shares best practices in order to help students across the globe reach their highest potential. We share our pass-ion one scope at a time in a monthly 5-15 minute window of time. We are a pop-up PD on screen that can be viewed live in real time or whenever you can find the best moment to watch. We are a community that unselfishly seeks to amplify the goodness of the whole!

Where We Are Going

This summer we take on our biggest task yet–ISTE Conference 2017 in San Antonio, TX. Ten

scopers will be covering every angle of this conference to include preconference offerings like Badge Summit and Hacking Education to the famed Ignite sessions, behind the scene interviews with keynotes, exhibitor hall vendors, those who seek refuge in the blogger’s cafe, playground sessions, company meetups, participant take aways, and awesome sessions brought to you by presenters.

We are improving our craft through improved scopes using OBS and Periscope Producer while never aiming to compromise bringing learning to those that desire to learn but cannot attend in person. Our scopes are authentic and meaningful to viewers but our desire is to have an active community of 100 scopers that share their learning from sun up to sun down every 15 minutes sharing on a themed topic (from their perspective) that will reach the masses.

As we all reflect on where we began and where we still want to go–we are simply amazed by the talent that exists within our group from video and graphic designers like Brian Smith, Amy Storer and Claudio Zavala to teachers like Dan Kreiness and planners like Stacy Lovdahl and Tracy Brady that keep us afloat. Last but not least to the many scopers within the community (Dene, Barbara, Fabiana, Jennifer, Cassie, Jacqueline, Kimberly, Leah, Matt, Michael, Ron, Shaina, Tara,and Victor) that show up and show out the awesomeness happening in their classrooms, buildings and districts– I applaud you all for truly going beyond the scope and walls of your classroom. To those that scope with us when time releases you–we love you for being present when we need.

And to you, the many viewers that view, like, and retweet our scopes–we THANK YOU for helping us to reach this milestone as we stand on your shoulders to reach the next.

You can find out more about our community by visiting www.passthescopeEDU.com and stay to share your passion for learning.