I just want to be a better me.

Today, I came back from teaching a technology class and opened my Tweetdeck. I was stunned to see my name added to a contest. People are supposed to go to that list and vote for the most influential educational tweeters. Really. No lie. First, let me say that I have major issues with lists. I never even created any twitter lists because it felt too exclusive to me. What do these lists prove? Why do we have them? So, imagine how embarrassed I feel being added to a list where I am being compared to some real powerhouse thinkers and doers.

I just want to be a better me.

I don’t want to be the next great presenter at technology conferences. I don’t want to be on the best of, most influential, top ten of any list. I just want to learn, to be a better teacher for my students. I want to fail less better. Yes fail better, so I learn and grow as an educator. I want to figure out a way to try and maintain my enthusiasm throughout the school year when apathy surrounds me and sucks me down it’s dark hole.  I want to help my students to answer the how do I do this? What if? Why does that happen? How can I make it better? kind of questions on their own.

Twitter helps me do that. When I come home, I know that if I sign onto twitter there will be many outstanding educators trying to do the same thing I am. To re-energize for the next day, to search for ideas, share successes and failures, talk about our kids, goof around or yes, sometimes even get serious.

So can we stop with the lists? Do we really need them? We know who influences us, do we need others to tell us that?