Eric Williams

Dr. Eric Williams is the superintendent of the York County School Division in Yorktown, VA.

After ten years of teaching I found myself burning out--losing that fire to be in the classroom. Thank goodness I found Twitter and a PLN to rekindle my passion for teaching and learning! I am honored to have Dr. Williams as part of my PLN-- he helps me believe what I do in the classroom every day matters. Thank you Dr. Williams for being “real”, for being connected, for being a learner, and for pushing my thinking.

It is not every day you find a superintendent willing to connect with teachers.  Dr Williams maintains an open line of communication and an open door policy. He takes the time to visit classrooms and wants to share in the enthusiasm of a learning environment.  His progressive vision has steered our division towards transformative and project based learning. I know I am in the right division because of his support of student creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. We are not a division stressed out over data and test scores...and for that I am grateful.

I am also grateful for Dr. Williams’ presence on Twitter. He clearly wants to be part of online learning alongside a global platform of educators. It is not out of the norm to find him in a Twitter education chat over the weekend, and he will readily jump into the conversation with ideas and reflections. He truly “levels the playing field” as he keeps his finger on the pulse of what is working for teachers, students, classrooms, school buildings, and other districts around the world. He quite simply gets the need to be a connected learner.

Thank you Dr. Williams!

This letter of gratitude was written by Jill Barnes.