Prompt: What does your PLN look like, and what does it do for your teaching?
So the other day I was talking to my parents about school (I mean that's a given, right?), and my mom made a comment that really stuck out to me. You see we were discussing the new appraisal system here in Texas, and my mom was telling me that one of her professional goals this year was to expand the use of technology in her classroom. For me, I was ecstatic because this meant that I knew I could help my mom understand the magical world of Twitter, blogs, and maybe even Instagram. Anyways, she was telling me how she was talking with a co-worker and told her, "Well, Ashley's going to be a big help this year because she's always on the computer. She can spends hours pouring through web-sites and resources and somehow always finds new things to test out in her classroom." At first, I was shocked at how my mom thought I spent too much time on my computer, but then I realized she was right. It seems that I never log off because there is just so much information and I know I haven't even scratched the surface.
This just made me think of how teachers are able to connect with each other despite miles upon miles that separate us. The joy of being able to communicate and share great ideas with one another makes education one of the most rewarding and fun careers. Of the myriad of resources that I've accumulated, I've noticed that pretty much all of them are located via the Internet (but there's still my department chair and his MASSIVE collection of resources ... it's quite impressive!). I've gone ahead and grouped and/or listed various tidbits of my PLN ... it's as follows:
Twitter
I mean, c'mon, this has got to be a given at this point. I really love that I can post questions with a specific hashtag and receive numerous responses from around the world. The ability to connect with teachers through Twitter chats has really helped me develop particular sets of skills, while also getting a chance to share some of the struggles and successes that take place in my classroom. The chance to share valuable information with others via this public site can be overwhelming, but completely worth it. The great thing about Twitter is how user-friendly it is which translates to spending more time connecting with others rather than trying to figure out how the darn thing works.
Blogs
Hi, my name is Ashley Cox, and I'm addicted to Tumblr. I love this blog platform, mainly because I mix in some personal views with my professional ones, so I find that this site allows me to unwind a bit. I actually came across this site through my sister, and primarily used it for personal reasons until about 9 months ago. That's when I switched over to focusing more on following fellow teachers, and soaking in all their wisdom. The majority of teachers that I follow are very similar to me and my class (in the demographic sense), and so seeing what works for them allows me the comfort of knowing that it may work for my classroom. I've come across some really interesting articles, tech tools, and overall strategies via this site, but at the same time, I've seen some teachers post about all the things that drove them crazy. To this I say, "Thank God it's not only me!" This site has really allowed me to develop as a teacher and a human-being!
Teaching Web-sites
I don't know what I would do without sites like TeachThought, Edutopia, We Are Teachers, etc... The strategies and resources these sites pull together seem to pop up on their main page right when I need them. I mean I've been able to grab information from here in preparation for CTLs, tech conferences, and overall discussions with my students. Recently, our school district had a PD session for the Social Studies Department pertaining to the SAMR Model. Well, since I was an avid reader of so many web-sites, I went in knowing pretty much everything the presenter was talking about. Many of the resources he showed us I was already using, or had at least tried in my classroom LAST YEAR! I'm pretty sure I may have annoyed him, but it's not my job to make a presenter feel like the smartest person in the room, my job is to provide students with the best education (and I'm going to use the necessary tools when it fits my student's needs!)
BIE - The Buck Institute for Education
This is probably the newest member of my PLN, largely due to the fact that I'm implementing a PBL classroom this year. I've spent the past 6-9 months pouring through all the resources I could find about PBL because I wanted to make sure it would be a good fit for my students. Almost always, I found myself going back to the BIE site because it simplified and explained all the components and concepts to a degree in which I could understand it, but also explain it to others. The templates, articles, rubrics, and even project database make a PBL newbie like me feel more comfortable with the educational format as complex as PBL.
Now of course, I also use a variety of International News web-sites and blogs (because I do teach World Geography after all), other teachers' blogs, and TED videos, but I find that the aforementioned members of my PLN have served the greatest benefit to me in the last year. To tell you the truth, I don't think that I could have developed to the teacher I am today without these particular resources. And, to the teacher I hope to become, I can only continue to strive towards finding new resources that will allow me to maintain an open mind to all the changes that are bound to appear. Here's to never forgetting that teacher is another word for "lifelong learner."
-A
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