Chuck Sandy

Voices from the iTDi Community – Chuck

Chuck Sandy

VOICES FROM THE iTDi COMMUNITY: AN INTRODUCTION

It is my great privilege in this issue of the iTDi blog to begin a summer series introducing some of the voices from our community. Over the next three issues, you’ll read some amazing stories from some amazing people. The stories are amazing because they are true and because they come straight from the heart.  The people are amazing because they have chosen to share something deeply true. These stories are travel narratives, written by teachers on a journey of professional and personal development. In each of these narratives, the writer in one way or another will tell you that professional and personal development are really two sides of the same coin: inseparable. All of the stories share some common elements, yet each one is unique for each story is written in an authentic voice. As you read, you will hear the true voice of education: the voice of a teacher speaking with truth and authenticity from the heart.

To frame these stories I have asked teachers a series of questions that they have answered in their own way. My questions were:

What are you passionate about?
How and why did you become a teacher?
What are you most interested in right now?
What’s the biggest challenge you face as a teacher?
What advice would you give a teacher just starting out a journey of professional development?
Is there any blog or online link you’d like to recommend?
What’s your favorite quotation about teaching or education?
Is there anything else you’d like to say?

In this issue you will read how Annie Tsai in Taiwan, Debbie Tevovich in Argentina, Bruno Andrade in Brazil, Josette Leblanc in Korea, and Kevin Stein in Japan answered these questions. As you read and reflect on what they have shared, take some time to think and reflect on how you would answers the same questions. I would like to invite you to answer the questions as well.

If you would like to share your own story, please visit the iTDi website where you will find these questions listed one by one as topics in the Social Forum under the heading Voices From the iTDi Community. Feel free to answer them all in as much depth as you wish by posting to the Forum. Likewise, feel free to just answer just one or two of the questions. It’s up to you.

You’re also free to just browse, read and reflect, but I do hope you will share your story as well. By adding your own story, you will help build a community: a community of teachers, each with a unique voice, each with a true story, each one a person on a journey of professional and personal development. As I am on the same journey as everyone else in our community, you will find my own answers in the Social Forum as well. Meanwhile, I invite you to read here in this iTDi Blog issue what Annie, Debbie, Bruno, Josette, and Kevin have shared. I am sure you will find their stories as amazing as I have as I put this issue together. It is not only a privilege to share these stories with you. It is also an honor for me to be a member of the iTDi community, in the company of such truly inspirational people: Real teachers, in every sense, on a journey.

Good Things,

Chuck Sandy

iTDi Community Director

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Chuck Sandy

Chuck is a teacher, teacher trainer, author & educational activist with 30 years of experience in the US, Japan and Brazil. His many publications include the Passages and Connect series from Cambridge University Press and the Active Skills For Communication series from Cengage Learning. He is a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops around the world. Chuck believes that positive change in education happens one student, one classroom, and one school at a time, and that it arises most readily out of dialogue and in collaboration with other educators. This is the reason he has built a Facebook group with over 9000 teachers from 24 countries that meet for ongoing educational discussions. It is also the reason he has worked to introduce Design For Change into Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, and Russia.

One thought on “Voices from the iTDi Community – Chuck”

  1. This article really helped me understand that there are some things that need our attention as a professional teacher.
    for example when there is a question that you describe above is: “Are we enthusiastic and a new way as a professional teacher confronted by a new environment as well.
    and that I feel now, so many problems that we can not expect before such public response to the presence of us who teach in a private school that does not voluntarily provide the cost for their children studying there. dismissive response that sometimes makes me have to sigh, but I will not give up. They allow their children to work when their children are still under public about 15 years and over .. cause for serious concern ..
    and enthusiasm that makes me still standing there with the intention of “whatever we plant one seed even then it will flourish if we are diligent care and keeping” and it was I applied there .. thanks Chuck ^^ I hope we can meet again, and I learned a lot from you

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