NEW GROUP! Includes discussions from the Administrators and Professional Development groups. What will it take to move our schools into the 21st century? Please share your thoughts and leadership strategies here.
Personal Learning Networks
What tools, websites, and resources are you using to grow your personal learning networks? Which have been the most influential and what influence have they had on the way you teach and work?
Comments (7)
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PLNs and Teaching
Building a personal learning network is one of the most beneficial activities that I do as a new teacher. The resources in my building are very helpful, but being able to connect with a group of people (teachers) in a similar situation with similar goals, has been exponentially more beneficial.
I use Twitter to connect with educators around the globe. There are resources being shared about every possible content area and experts, novices, and beginners alike can participate in the conversation.
Other important services to my PLN are wikis, blogs, Google Reader, and nings. All allow for multiple voices to contribute to one larger purpose.
Expanding My Knowledge
I love all the sources out there that help me be a better, more knowledgeable teacher! Just today, I participated in a webinar on using data, listened to a renowned author discuss helping black males achieve, posted several blogs, checked out Facebook, and joined Twitter!
All of this would have cost me thousands of dollars in conference and travel fees, not to mention time away from the classroom. Now, I can just log on in my spare time (ha, ha!) and be connected with thousands of educators and leaders. It's great!
Free Professional Development
Great comment, Erika! I agree with you. I found I had to create my own professional development online and the learning opportunities are endless. Which webinars do you usually attend? (Edutopia, Future of Education, ISTE, etc.?)
Whatever Comes My Way!
[quote]Great comment, Erika! I agree with you. I found I had to create my own professional development online and the learning opportunities are endless. Which webinars do you usually attend? (Edutopia, Future of Education, ISTE, etc.?)[/quote]
With Webinars, I usually sign up for what ever comes in my email box that looks interesting. I'd love to know a source that shows what Webinars are around. I just found out that Edutopia has Webinars. I signed up for the one last Thursday (was REALLY looking forward to it) but I had a conflict and the conflict won out!
Any tips on where I can find Webinar resources? Thanks!
Classroom 2.0 Ning is one of
Classroom 2.0 Ning is one of the places I go to gain knowledge, ask questions, seek collaborators, etc. They also have a Classroom 2.0 Live which has live meetings every Saturday morning on specific topics. The Elluminate sessions are archived so I spend a lot of time watching past shows.
http://classroom20.com
A good resource for PLNs
An excellent resource with lots of useful tools for getting the most out of PLNS.
http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/2010/05/09/16-resources-about-person...
Great Resource on Building an Online PLN
I've come across this resource many times and always love it - especially the video (it looks like it would really help convince those nay-sayers that don't believe in the power of PLNs).
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/LeaderTalk/2009/01/a_21st_century_profess...
Let me know your thoughts...I'd love to hear if anyone showed this video to their colleagues :)