by derrickwillard on August 12, 2010 at 2:49 pm · Filed under PLN, social media and tagged: social media, the journey
Time for school to start up again! I was just thinking about my journey into using social media to enhance my “classroom learning experience” and especially the sherpas in my personal learning network (PLN)…the folks I’ve met through Powerful Learning Practice or at conferences. I’ve met some amazing folks and I learn something new from them daily by reading their blogs or tweets. I’ve noticed that many times I stumble onto discussions about revolutionizing education via social media. These are great discussions and serve to challenge folks to rethink our profession. However, sometimes I find such discussions frustrating. Sometimes I feel that if we spend too much time in the stratosphere (thinner air up where the jets fly cross-country), then we lose sight of what is going on in the troposphere (the thicker part of the atmosphere where we live and breathe). As a classroom teacher, my current focus is on how to apply these social media tools with my students. So, if you do follow my blog this coming year, know that I’m going to try to keep my focus in the lower reaches of the educational atmosphere. Consider this space a place where you can find and discuss practical classroom applications. If you click on any of the tags or categories to the right, you should find projects I’ve already tried…
Anyone else share this sense of frustration?
by derrickwillard on March 12, 2010 at 10:19 pm · Filed under PLN, professional development and tagged: conference, PLN, the journey, why
So, I’m back home after two very stimulating days at the NCAIS Innovate Conference at Cary Academy. Man, my mind is still on fire and I cannot sleep. I’m sitting here trying to let the flames die down a bit, so I can sleep by the coals. I’ve heard so many teachers who attend conferences like these struggle to process and reflect, but the only solution is time.
I think one thing I know for sure is that I met some neat folks–progressive educators who push themselves to innovate in order to better engage their students. For example I met arvind s. grover, the Director of Educational Technology at The Hewitt School in New York City. arvind (yes, he spells his name in lower case), was a part of the keynote panel and helps host a nifty online talk show called EdTechTalk 21st Century Learning. I also met Meredith Stewart, a 6th Gr LA & History Teacher at Cary Academy (and another panel member). Check out her insights on teaching and technology at her blog. I could go on and on. The point is, I found some really neat folks to add to my Personal Learning Network (PLN).
Why do I have a PLN? Why should you? A personal learning network allows a teacher to efficiently gather knowledge to improve his or her craft. I think Daniel Tobin explains it best:
How can your learning network help you?
By helping you to sift through all the data to identify the information that will be most useful to you.
By helping you to identify learning resources and opportunities.
By coaching you and answering your questions as you try to apply your learning to your work.
By sharing their wisdom with you through dialogue.
Building a personal learning network is requires that you not only seek to learn from others, but also that you also help others in the network learn. Even when you are a novice in a field of learning, you can still make contributions. Did you read an article that might be of interest to others? Then distribute it to other in your network with a short note that you thought they might find it interesting. Did you hear of a conference on the subject? Let others know about the program and speakers and, if you attend, circulate your notes and papers you collect to other network members.
How do you build a solid PLN? Well, here is a great blog post on 8 Steps of PLN Development by Liz B. Davis. Me, I started by subscribing to blogs and Twitter feeds of folks I learned are opinion leaders in the field. So, if you haven’t started building your PLN yet, now is the time!
