10 People Better Than You

I recently had the opportunity to listen to Bob Dillon's Keynote address at the Nebraska Fall EdTech Conference in Kearney, Nebraska.   I have been following Bob on Twitter and Instagram for quite awhile, and it seems like I learn a new thing from him everyday.  I enjoyed the opportunity to finally meet him in person and listen to him tell his story.

During Bob's Keynote address he said something that really made me think.  I can't recall it verbatim, but it went something like this,  "I challenge you to think of 10 people that have the same job as you, but do it better than you."

Whoah...

We aren't supposed to think about things like that are we?  Aren't we supposed to be the best in our field?  Yes, I strive for that, but find that there are some amazing tweeps in my network doing awesome things in their school districts.  I am continually learning from awesome educators in my professional learning network!

Bob mentioned that when he does this activity in a workshop, most teachers struggle to get past the first name that they write down.  I thought for a bit and immediately started jotting down names in the Notes app on my phone (I also wondered how a teacher that's not connected would answer this question, but that's a whole new blog post).

Here is what I came up with.  I'm actually cheating and listing twelve people instead of ten.  A simple "thank you" to those on this list.  You continually challenge me to become a better educator.  You continually raise the bar higher and higher.   You drive me to be the best that I can be in my profession.

Devon Schoening
Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano
Josh Allen
Jennifer Scheffer
Jenny Grabiec
Lisa Johnson
Jeremy Macdonald
Holly Clark
Susan Bearden
Clay Reisler
Brent Catlett
Mickie Mueller

Well, can you come up with ten people?  If so, I challenge you to reply with your own blog post!

Let's see what ya got!