%, my online PLN is the sources of my information because that information is available 24/7.Why develop a PLN? Well, a strong PLN offers many benefits to educators including professional development as you learn from content-area specialists; a way to locate resources, new lesson plan ideas and technology tools to enhance learning; the opportunity to work with others in your field around the globe; and a way to keep up to date on the latest education news.
There are many ways to build your online PLN but too much at one time can be overwhelming. To get started, I highly recommend adding the following three resources to your PLN:
1. Twitter (micro-blogging)
I have to admit I was a Twitter doubter for a long time. Statements limited to 140 certainly could have no value in my busy life and really, is it really a necessity for me to know who is at the grocery store? But I decided to try it out one day and I was hooked. Let me also add that I do not use Twitter to its fullest; I have posted "tweets" (140 character statements) only a handful of times (and there are lots of others just like me - here is a great, short article about being mainly a Twitter reader). But just reading my Twitter feed for a few minutes a few times a week has been incredibly valuable. Not only can you follow specific educators from all over the world (a few favorites are on the Twitter feed in the right column of this blog), but there are education specific conversations you can follow... focusing on the level you teach and/or the content as well as general education chats (this page can be overwhelming but I want to list it here for future reference; your ITRT can help direct you to specific chats). Click here for a blog entry on ways to use Twitter in your classroom. Let your ITRT know if you are interested in more hands-on training in using Twitter.
2. Delicious (social bookmarking)
There are several places to store bookmarks online but one that is quite popular and that I use regularly is Delicious (delicious.com). Once you are logged in you can start saving the URLs of the sites you want to store, tag them by topic, enter comments about the site, and even see how many other Delicious users have bookmarked that same site. The "social" part comes in because your bookmark list can be seen by others (though you can control this if you don't want that to happen) which means you can see other's bookmarks. There is a search feature where you can search by tags or by what is popular. If you find other educators teaching the same topics or grade level that you are teaching, their bookmarks will often be just as helpful as the sites you have bookmarked yourself, with a little less time involved researching! Here is a link to my Delicious bookmarks for you to check out!
There are many ways to build your online PLN but too much at one time can be overwhelming. To get started, I highly recommend adding the following three resources to your PLN:
I have to admit I was a Twitter doubter for a long time. Statements limited to 140 certainly could have no value in my busy life and really, is it really a necessity for me to know who is at the grocery store? But I decided to try it out one day and I was hooked. Let me also add that I do not use Twitter to its fullest; I have posted "tweets" (140 character statements) only a handful of times (and there are lots of others just like me - here is a great, short article about being mainly a Twitter reader). But just reading my Twitter feed for a few minutes a few times a week has been incredibly valuable. Not only can you follow specific educators from all over the world (a few favorites are on the Twitter feed in the right column of this blog), but there are education specific conversations you can follow... focusing on the level you teach and/or the content as well as general education chats (this page can be overwhelming but I want to list it here for future reference; your ITRT can help direct you to specific chats). Click here for a blog entry on ways to use Twitter in your classroom. Let your ITRT know if you are interested in more hands-on training in using Twitter.
2. Delicious (social bookmarking)
There are several places to store bookmarks online but one that is quite popular and that I use regularly is Delicious (delicious.com). Once you are logged in you can start saving the URLs of the sites you want to store, tag them by topic, enter comments about the site, and even see how many other Delicious users have bookmarked that same site. The "social" part comes in because your bookmark list can be seen by others (though you can control this if you don't want that to happen) which means you can see other's bookmarks. There is a search feature where you can search by tags or by what is popular. If you find other educators teaching the same topics or grade level that you are teaching, their bookmarks will often be just as helpful as the sites you have bookmarked yourself, with a little less time involved researching! Here is a link to my Delicious bookmarks for you to check out!
3. Following Blogs
Does the thought of having your own blog seem overwhelming? Then start by reading them! Many educators have blogs that are worth reading to collect new ideas, collaborate, or sometimes just to feel like you are not the only one battling a certain issue in your classroom. One blog I highly recommend for everyone to read is Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day. He may not teach the same course, content, or level as most of us, but his posts are always full of new ideas and web tools appropriate for many of us and his blog is easy to navigate to find topics he may have posted about previously. And if you go to his blog and subscribe for email updates, you will receive his blog posts via email, once a day, so you don't even have to remember to go to the blog! Subscribe here by entering your email address!
Another blog I highly recommend for ideas for all levels is the one at Learning Today. Again, you can enter your email to subscribe right on the main page and the blog entries will come to your email account. "Reading" a blog this way is very manageable... you will get minimal emails from subscribing and if the topic doesn't fit, just delete the email. If the topic fits, you may find a new, exciting, or even better way to meet the needs of your students!
And the last blog to get you started is Free Technology for Teachers. This one might be more overwhelming for educators not totally comfortable with new technologies but on the main page he has listed resources for content areas that you might find useful. Again, remembering to check blogs can be hard so have the blog entries sent to you... click here to enter your email address!
And of course, you should subscribe to this blog too! Find the "subscribe" box on the right, type your email address, and hit enter!
If you have a great blog you think others would be interested in following, can offer comments or suggestions on using Twitter, or use a social bookmark site, leave a comment on this post so we can all learn from each other!
