Thursday, April 14, 2011

Journal 7- My Personal Leraning Network (NETS I, II, III, IV)



My PLN (Personal Learning Network) is a place where I can learn from my peers. It consists of numerous resources that are vital and helpful in being successful in my career. In my PLN, those who I follow often suggest great ideas and suggestions that will help me be an effective teacher. I communicate with teachers, technology experts, and fellow classmates. Some of the things I look for within my PLN are innovative and creative ways to communicate my curriculum content. This is important because all students learn differently.
One resource that I commonly use in my PLN is Twitter. Twitter has become universal. No matter where you are in the world, everyone knows about twitter. This source allows me to “follow” people as they discuss whatever it is they feel is relevant. I’m currently following a few educational gurus/college sites along with a few friends and a few celebs. I’m following Classroom 2.0, Liveclass 2.0, the awesome Dr. Jeff Heil, Bill Cosby, along with several of my fellow classmates. Classroom 2.0 frequently posts classroom assignment ideas. It sort of has a Q & A feel to it. I know that if I need info on anything that incorporates technology and education I can rely on Classroom 2.0 on Twitter. Liveclass 2.0 is a live show that is held every Saturday at 11 pm. It is about technology tools that are used in the classroom. Not only is Bill Cosby a great comedian, but he is also a great educationalist. He does a wonderful job making his followers think outside of the box. I joined an educational chat on Twitter at 1 pm (4pm EST) this afternoon (April 13, 2011). That chat I participated in was EL Chat, or English Language Chat. I did a lot more observing than I did typing. I found those who were participating to be very lax and enjoyable. I chose this chat because it was the only one that was adaptable to my busy schedule (only because I got off an hour early today). Most of the people must have been from a faraway place because they kept stating that it was night time. The first thing I read was, “Right time to have a glass of wine and watch dream school, night all.” One gentleman was discussing private immersion schools in Brazil. He mentioned that half of the subjects were taught in English and the other half in Spanish. There was probably about 20 participating in the chat and they seemed to all know each other. It almost seemed more like a personal chat than an educational chat. They were talking about babysitting, clothing, and different kinds of wine. If I had my choice (less time constraints), I would have definitely chose a different chat to participate in.
Like twitter, Diigo is another awesome networking tool. Diigo is a bookmarking site that allows you to bookmark and tag pretty much anything that interests you. Also like twitter, Diigo allows you to follow people with similar interests. I am following several educators from around the world. The first site that I tagged PLN is PLN 101. This site is an intro to Personal Learning Networks. It teaches you the basics and gets you started on your own PLN. The next thing that I tagged PLN is a fun wiki called factory wall. This wiki gives a number of awesome ways to incorporate art into education. I also tagged an interesting blog titled, Year One: A College Blog. In this blog, a freshman at a university documents her life. This blog was created so that future college students have a sense of what they can expect when they make that plunge.
I also recently joined Classroom 2.0, which is a digital discussion forum. Classroom 2.0 is a cool social network that encourages the use of technology in schools. I explored the Classroom 2.0 blog. This allows virtually anybody to post something. Just need your name and e-mail.  There were some pretty interesting posts and subject matter varied. It was all educational or technological.


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