Have you ever really sat down and thought about how you learn? Where do you get your information? What sources do you trust? Who do you talk to? Do you have a “go-to” team of collaborators?
PLN? What is That??
One of the classes I am enrolled in this semester is Educational Technology. Right away in the first week of class we were asked to begin thinking about and beginning to expand our PLN. My first question was “What in the world is a PLN?” As I soon learned, a PLN is a Personal (or Professional) Learning Network. A network of people, places, sources, etc. where you get ideas, learn new things, or just talk about what you are doing. Since I’m just getting started, I didn’t really think I had much of a PLN, until I sat down to make out a map of where I am at now. Here is what that map looks like:
I have a lot more branches on here than I thought I would for just starting out! Over the course of this semester, I am going to be working on expanding this map. I’ve been doing some thinking about where to expand and over the next few months.
What Now?
Here are my plans for the next few months
- Grow my Twitter account – I just started a twitter feed for my classroom. Feel free to follow me @AngieBrand12
- Find and follow some great education themed blogs. Have some suggestions? I’d love to know what blogs you find useful! Feel free to leave me a comment!
- Start my own blog and get some people interacting with me on here. That’s what you are reading right now!
- Find and subscribe to some great teaching podcasts. What podcasts do you listen to?
- Start filling up my Pinterest account with some ideas for my future classroom.
Your Thoughts:
What does your PLN look like? I would love to hear from other educators on what your favorite blogs and podcasts are – where do you go for information?
