One Thing Leads to Another

As this calendar year ends, I think back on all the growth I have done as an educator.  In years past, my professional development was text-based.  I would read a great book, and then find other books by that same author or mentioned by that author and read some more.  This year, however, more opportunities for growth came from internet networking.  Connecting with like-minded people through Proteacher, Yahoo groups, blogs and Pinterest has led me to more like-minded people at Teachers Pay Teachers, Teacher's Notebook, and You Tube.  My skills have increased exponentially due to the interactive nature of the internet.
So, as the new year dawns, I am taking some time to record how one idea has lead to another over the past five years.
Starting in 2008, Daily 5 led to The CAFE Book, (and many other books about conferring and the reading workshop approach) which led to the Yahoo Group of the same name.  Leading that group was scrapbunny, who introduced me to Whole Brain Teaching.  www.thedailycafe.com led me to the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project which led me to the work of Lucy Culkins in the Writing Workshop.