Today for the blogging challenge I will be describing my Professional Learning Network.
A little over a year ago, before I began my graduate studies in Instructional Technologies and Digital Media Literacy, I could barely tell you what a PLN was. I knew about them, but I was not very involved in them. I used online research all the time to plan lessons, but I had very little interaction with other teachers while doing this.
Today, my PLN is growing every day. I have finally become somewhat comfortable using Twitter to help grow my network. Every week, I discover new blogs or people to follow. I save resources for future reference and learn a great deal by interacting with others.
Despite this, I feel I am still at the beginning stages of truly developing my PLN. I have not participated in Twitter chats, though I’ve been hearing about them for over a year. I know I need to delve in, but am still trying to find the time. I am still overwhelmed at the amount of information and am learning how to best manage it.
Of course, I do have an old-fashioned PLN of my colleagues in my district. There are several colleagues I go to to discuss ideas and share resources. It is great to have people close by who can meet face to face, but the learning that I can do by interacting with others online is just as valuable and has had an enormous effect on what I do in the classroom.
