My Personal Learning Network Love Story
Yes I Love My PLN
I’ve only spent about half of my educational career as an active member of a Personal Learning Network. I still remember getting started as a science teacher in 1992. I was given some paper resources (The internet was still little more than a fad at this point.) and a syllabus for the class. I was the only one teaching the class, so I was mostly on my own. I created, experimented, and revised activities and assessments by myself. My students were my critics. If I was lucky enough to attend an educational conference, I sat in the back of the room and diligently recorded ideas and resources that I would take back to my classroom and my students. I kept to myself, I am an introvert by nature. I thought I was doing all I could to grow as an educator and help my students. I was wrong.
In April of 2009, I joined Twitter. I won’t lie to you and tell you that this made all the difference right away, there was no glorious light that suddenly appeared from the heavens. It was the open gate that started me on my path as a contributor to a Global PLN. I mainly lurked on Twitter until the ICE Conference in 2012, where I discovered the power of the educational hashtag. This is the moment where I was off and running. I made new connections and began collaborating outside of my school. I met, collaborated, and learned from educators both in a digital world and in the real world. It was and continues to be a glorious experience. Today I love to learn, collaborate, and share on a variety of social media platforms with educators from around the world. I no longer hide in the back of the room at conferences. I present, I tweet, and I collaborate every chance I get whenever and wherever I can.
Being part of a PLN has made all the difference for me. Few educational experiences have done more to help me learn and grow as a lifelong learner. Being part of a PLN has made all the difference for me. Few educational experiences in my life have done more to help me learn and grow as a lifelong learner. I love my PLN.
In and effort to support other educators who want to get started on their PLN journeys, we’ve created a Personal Learning Network Interactive. The document is designed to provide both new and experienced connected educators with new opportunities and experiences to grow as lifelong learners.
I Believe All Educators Owe It To Their Students to Make Connections & Share Ideas
Here are a few additional resources to help everyone build a more collaborative PLNs.
No comments:
Post a Comment