Social Networking, Social Learning and ......Social Teaching!

I bumped into Erika's Blog via a tweet from @shareski.

I found it pretty interesting and it prompted me to think a little about something I hadn't really thought about before.

I really was a social learner, IMHO, we all are. We learn by talking, chatting, arguing and discussing things with others. Despite my social learning, I was limiting my society by not engaging as much as I could have via the interwebs. I admit that I was fearful. I was specifically fearful of how the powers that be would react to my web presence, when, not if, it came to their attention. I realize now, that that fear held me back. It is very sad to me in a way that I had to leave the classroom to learn how much better a teacher I could have been.

Now, I realize, maybe there are more ways I can help, more things I can do. If learning is social, maybe teaching can be too. Why would I limit my student's learning to just what I can teach them. I could now bring other teachers into my classroom, experts in may fields, students, and learners, and politicians and who knows what else if I just open myself to the vast possibilities of what social teaching could do.