Welcome to My Professional Learning Network!
Why I Created This Professional Learning Network
According to Skip Via, there are “two chief reasons” to develop your professional learning network: accessibility and responsibility (Via, 2010). He reasons that by “creating a support system of colleagues and mentors, you can have broad and deep access to help when you need it no matter where you are.” If, for example, the colleagues I collaborate with now in real life or I ever change schools or districts, I can at least still collaborate with them online because we are connected through social media and other means. With regards to responsibility, by developing my PLN I am living into my responsibility of finding my own professional development opportunities in order to become a better teacher for my students.
My PLN allows me to “reach beyond [my] school or district” (Watanabe-Crockett, 2017). Because of this PLN, I am now connected to a wealth of resources and ideas from teachers across the globe that I would have otherwise never have connected with. Moreover, because of my PLN, I am able to connect with experts like scholarly researchers and professional organizations and stay up to date with the latest happenings in the education field (Watanabe-Crockett, 2017). For example, one of the best organizations I connect with via Twitter is NGSS. By following NGSS, I get ideas for great, effective phenomena to use in my units and I get free professional development on how to dissect the new standards.
Ultimately, I created my PLN in the hopes that I can learn from colleagues across the nation and around the world and get access to the wealth of ideas that are available beyond the confines of my school and district. I also created it to be able to share with those same colleagues the strategies and ideas that have worked for me in the hopes of helping them grow too.
How I Utilize My Professional Learning Network
The purpose of a PLN is to create “beneficial symbiotic relationships involving give and take” (Watanabe-Crockett, 2017). In other words, a PLN is “a two way street” (Via, 2010). In order to properly utilize a PLN, we have to both listen and contribute (Via, 2010). On this blog site, you’ll find that I frequently solicit ideas, feedback, and advice, especially on the site’s “Let’s Collaborate!” page. You’ll also find links to my Twitter and Pinterest pages on the “My Social Media” page. I use these social media pages as a way to stay up to date with the latest in teaching strategies for NGSS standards and classroom management. On these pages, I love to listen to the people I follow. I mostly use my PLN to run ideas by other educators, ask questions about things other educators are implementing that I want to implement, ask for advice on any challenges I’m having, and to stay up to date with the latest happening in our field. But, because I recognize my responsibility to not only listen, but also contribute, you’ll find my own posts about what I’m doing in my classroom (with links to resources) under the “My Blog” page. And in the comments section under the “Let’s Collaborate!” page, you’ll candidly find out how I’m collaborating with my colleagues and further sharing ideas with them.
How this Professional Learning Network is Benefitting My Student and I
Thanks to the expanded network of resources I’m engaging with through this PLN, my instruction is improving day to day. As my instruction improves, my students’ content mastery should as well. Under the “Blogs I Follow” page, you’ll find descriptions for a number of blogs I follow. Under each description, you’ll see how I have incorporated what I’ve learned from said blog into my own classroom.
My hope is that as I become an expert in creating PLNs, I’ll be able to share this practice with my students. My idea is to teach students how to make their own PLN. Taking a cue from the “Getting Smart” blog, I might “design a classroom project that relies on using one aspect of PLNs” (Clifford, 2013). There’s great resources out there for teaching students how to create PLNs like this video (Clifford, 2013). As a science teacher teaching my students how to create and engage in PLNs is a great idea because for my future scientists, especially, collaboration will be the most important part of their job.
References
Clifford, M. (2013, January 17). 20 tips for creating a professional learning network [Blog]. Retrieved from http://www.gettingsmart.com/2013/01/20-tips-for-creating-a-professionallearning-network/
Via, S. (2010, June 10). Personal learning networks for educators [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6WVEFE-oZA (approximate length: 5 minutes)
Watanabe-Crockett, L. (2017, October 12). 5 do’s and don’ts for building your professional learning network [Blog]. Retrieved from https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/professional-learningnetwork-practices
Ms. Calderon's Professional Learning Network 