Journal #7

My Personal Learning Network

            A PLN or Personal Learning Network is the community that one can establish by utilizing various technological tools or social networks to share ideas among others in that community who have a common interest or goal. A few of these tools that can be used to establish a PLN are Twitter, Diigo and Classroom 2.0. I have used all of these tools to establish my Personal Learning Network based on my interest in education. I seek out others who are Elementary School teachers, since that will be my field so that I can learn from their experiences. I also have an interest in teaching art and am constantly seeking out creative ways to teach. Once I become a teacher, I will have established my PLN and have a reputation within my network. These educators will benefit my creative thought and give me helpful advice as I learn how to teach effectively. 

            I use Twitter to “follow” people who have experience teaching. Many educators are very active on Twitter as they share technology tools and articles that aid their teaching. I am following more than eight educators at the moment one of which is Jill Thompson. She is a science and math teacher who is also interested in technology. She is very active on Twitter and posts many interesting articles and tools that are useful. I think that technology provides important tools that can help children learn how to do difficult subjects like math and science so her advice will be helpful for my teaching experience. Twitter also has the function of educational chats. I downloaded tweetdeck, which organizes tweets into columns. I also found a way to slow down the feed so that rapidly updating posts do not overwhelm me. I participated in #elemchat which is a chat for Elementary School educators on Saturdays at 3pm PST (I participated on October 29^th). One of the many things I found interesting during the chat was LindaYollis’ comment, “One-on-one conferences with children really helps them understand that they are responsible for their learning. They have a role”. This struck me as very true and made me think about my previous blog post about using Google + hangouts to have a videoconference with a student who may be struggling. I also read other interesting comments from people who suggested students should decide the layout of the classroom so they feel as if its their classroom.        

            I use Diigo to bookmark sites that have educational value. While bookmarking a website, you can tag relevant subjects within that source. You can also write a description of the content you bookmarked for other people to see. I tagged the website squidoo for their visual thinking school. On this website, you can view many different modules for visual learning. A few are visual vocabulary, sketching and visual mapping. These modules can be used in the classroom to teach a variety of subjects. On the same website, I found a recommended blog called visualthinkingart.blogspot.com which allows many different people to upload their examples of the modules learned within the website. Both of these tools additional examples of how a website can act as a means to establish a Personal Learning Network.  I also follow other teachers on Diigo who bookmark useful sites that I can also bookmark for reading later. One person I am following is named Lori Sheldon. She bookmarks very frequently and is a former 3^rd grade teacher (my ideal grade level). She has over 2,000 bookmarks and many tags that are of interest to me.

            I joined the digital forum Classroom 2.0 and have seen many interesting sources that educators have posted in the forums. One of which is an article that outlines 5 creative ways to use Twitter in the classroom. The most interesting idea was a Twitter game show. Say you need students to review for an upcoming test. You can tweet a question and one person from each team can tweet an answer. The first one with the correct answer could get a point. This can be projected on the screen so everyone can watch the progress of the game. This is a great idea that I will be sure to use in my classroom.

NETS-T 5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership