Spread the #edjoy

One of my favorite Twitter chats is #sunchat. It never fails to motivate me for the upcoming week. Even when conversations revolve around potentially depressing topics, like the move towards more standardization and high stakes testing, ultimately I still feel hopeful. There are just too many thoughtful people out there fighting for what is right in education. 

Two weeks ago was no exception. The initial question asked us to discuss the ways we help struggling colleagues. A thread evolved regarding the need to laugh. Perhaps, some of us wondered, the time had come to establish a new hashtag: #edjoy? Yes, we decided. It was. In order to articulate the need for this hashtag, a number of people helped create the Joy in Education Manifesto.

Lets face it, teaching is a tough, high-stress job, especially in the current climate when so many educators feel besieged. It is easy to forget to laugh with our students and colleagues, to chuckle when things go off the rails, to emphasize joy. 

#Edjoy is about reconnecting with what attracted us to teaching in the first place: the desire to keep learning while helping others reach their potential. #Edjoy is about reasserting ourselves in the conversation regarding what empowered learning looks like. #Edjoy is about reminding ourselves that it's one thing for those on the outside to enumerate the shortcomings in our education system, but quite another to dedicate oneself to offering solutions from within.

In short, #Edjoy is about educators sharing what they love about their profession and, in so doing, providing uplift for themselves and others.

So what's the upshot, you might be wondering? What am I supposed to do with this hashtag? There are ideas for a more organized, concerted effort at making #edjoy known. One possibility: a daily #edjoy tweet challenge for the month of November (the month of giving thanks). Another possibility: an #edjoy flash mob at some arranged day and time. Maybe we could even get the hashtag to trend.

For now, however, the point is to USE IT! Spread the #edjoy.

**Thanks for reading. If you would like be part of future action, tweet me at @sglass771 or leave your twitter handle as a comment below or list your twitter handle on the #edjoy activists list on the 2nd page of the Joy in Education Manifesto.