George Couros

Our class had the pleasure of having George Couros Skype into our Internet for Educators class. George is from the Edmonton area, where he is the Division Principal of Innovative Teaching and Learning for Parkland School Division. From start to finish George had many useful tips on what to do and what not to do when beginning your career as an educator.
Some of those useful tips include:

• Parents will google you because they are dying to know as much as possible about their child's teacher. So think twice about posting your party pictures online for your facebook friends to see.
• You could be the best teacher in the world, but if you have a bunch of spelling/grammar errors on your resume then your teaching skills mean nothing.
• You may use twitter and blogs just for a few months while taking a course, but these ways to communicate and share can be very useful once you begin your life as a teacher.
• "Yon don't need to be an expert on teaching; you need to be an expert on learning." I think this particular quote really stood out for most of us. George feels we need to inspire our kids to follow their passions, while letting them inspire us to do the same. This I think is great moto to live by.
• "Kids before curriculum," we need to build relationships with our students, get to know each and everyone one of them. It will help in building respect of your students.

I appreciate George Couros taking time to speak to us and sharing great points that really stuck in my mind, as every single one of them have their importance. Also, take some time to visit George Couros website, his blogs, resume and list of presentations/projects are a few of many areas that are quite impressive. A True Professional at what he does.

http://georgecouros.ca/blog/