Developing your PLN

Without having specific assignments related to our PLN due each week, this article gives great ideas to keep up with your PLN so that we can use it to our advantage when we really need it. It is most important to interact with other people, and to do so often. Without this, your PLN does not exist. Get involved!! The more involved you are, the more involved the people on the other end of your PLN will want to be. It is a give and take process, and it only works if both ends take the time to help the other grow. Use Twitter, blog often, and keep organized!

Remember that people are busy. It may not take 5 minutes for someone to answer your question or comment. If possible, ask multiple people so that you are able to get an answer quickly. However, be patient! Nobody likes a nagging person, and it is almost impossible to communicate with someone who does not have patience with you. Be real with your PLN. Putting on a face will only throw people off when they realize who you truly are. Take the time to get to know the people in your PLN. This will only bring advantages to your life.

Bottom line: PARTICIPATE!

Blog it up!

Now that we are at the end of the semester, I have taken some time to reflect on what will and what will not work in my classroom when I finally become a teacher. I enjoyed writing blogs each week because it was a way to have us begin our PLN journey and to get other peoples' insights to our profession. I have found countless blogs that I have added to my Evernote so that I can keep up with them. I have bookmarked many specific articles that I want to use in my classroom, and having this opportunity makes me excited rather than scared to begin my teaching career. In the beginning of the semester, we were told that we would have to incorporate technology into our classrooms 1,000 times more than it was incorporated into our's when we were in school. Then, I was stubborn and afraid that I wouldn't be able to keep up with all of the new technology. With this course, through projects, blogging, Twitter, and my PLN, I now know that I have other places to turn to when things start to get rough. I will be able to use technology to find ways to incorporate technology into my classroom! Technology seems to be a win-win for teachers, as it is where I will be looking to enhance my classroom and my students will be excited to use technology to learn.

Blogging in the Classroom

This blog gave great tips to teachers on how to integrate blogging into your classroom. He tells us to just get started with the blogging. Many people want their blog to look flawless the second it is made, but this is unnecessary because you can change the style of the blog later. You should inform parents of the blogging in your classroom, and explain why you are choosing for your students to blog. Internet safety rules and contracts should be reviewed and signed both by parents and students in order to maintain a safe learning environment online. Guidelines should be created and discussed with parents and students. Without communication, this form of learning will fail. It is important to set and discuss expectations with your class. Lastly, you should expect something will go wrong. Always prepare for the worst, but make these mistakes teaching and learning opportunities with your students. Be sure to explain to students what happened and why so that you can learn together about fixing the issue next time.

I just came across this blog today and plan on visiting it more often. This post was really interesting and helpful, and the blogger posts in an informal way in order to connect with his audience.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/11/how-to-set-yourself-up-for-classroom.html#.UocpsRpJOSo

Twitter experiences

Twitter has been beneficial to me, as I have been using it for another class since the beginning of the semester. However, it is really hectic and I do not have much time to go on Twitter to interact as much as I would like to and should. I do know, however, that if I have a question or concern about anything education (or really any topic) related, I can go on Twitter and reach out to those on my PLN. This is comforting because technology is developing so quickly, and it is hard to keep up! There are many subjects that one teacher teaches better than another because of the way they teach the lesson. If my class is not understanding a specific topic, I know that I can go on Twitter and reach out to other educators to see how they teach that subject. All students are capable of learning. But, as educators, we need to be sure to teach through various learning methods in order to reach every student in our classroom. On Twitter, I have found articles, blogs, advice on how to handle parents, advice on how to use Twitter to your best advantage, classroom set up ideas, classroom scheduling ideas, anti-bullying demonstrations, how to integrate technology into the classroom, and countless other things. Twitter has been a great resource, and I am glad that I started to use it while I am still in college. This will allow me to further develop my personal learning network, and, hopefully, I can do a Mystery Skype with one of these teachers with my class someday!

Edutopia

Edutopia is a great ning for educators because they want to make a difference. If you are an educator that does not have this goal, you should find a new career. You can look through the site organized by alphabetic letters or grade level, which are both great ways to organize the site. Edutopia encourages you to get involved and interact with others on the site to create better schools. There are blogs to keep up with, articles to read, examples of successful schools, classroom guides, and videos. There are hundreds of resources all on one page, and you can share this on your PLN Twitter network, which will then encourage your followers to join, which will then allow them to post to the site, which will then benefit you by reading their posts and advice. There are also quizzes that you can take, and you can subscribe to a newsletter so that you don't miss out on any important information. I am going to start using Edutopia and import things into Evernote from it to keep everything organized.

Twitter

Twitter has been a fun but challenging experience so far. It is really difficult to find the time to be able to get on Twitter between working and going to school, but when I do get the chance, I find it rewarding. Being able to connect with other educators who are passionate about teaching allows me to improve myself as a (future) teacher. I am excited to get into the classroom because of all of the tools I have access to. Before my PLN network, it made me nervous that I would be expected to use technology so much in my classroom. Twitter gives you access to websites, articles, videos and thousands of other resources to improve yourself as a teacher. I am relieved to know that I have people to reach out to with any questions and concerns regarding my future career. I want to be able to give my students everything I can, and my PLN has given me back-up.

Mystery Skype

Using Skype in the classroom to connect with other teachers and students across the world can be beneficial in many ways. We can learn about other cultures and how those students learn and interact with other teachers to learn more about our field and get advice and tools through them. Mystery Skype is when one classroom Skypes another classroom, and students from each take turns asking questions to try to discover where the other classroom is located. In my other class, we did a Mystery Skype with a third grade class in Florida...and they figured it out before we did! It was a lot of fun and it was neat to see elementary school kids in their own environment. Mystery Skype is a great way for teachers to integrate Skype and connected learning into their classroom, and it is a fantastic way to introduce this type of learning because it is fun, challenging and engaging. This will intrigue students and make them want to learn more about using Skype to connect with people all over the world for educational purposes.