Connections

Networking.  Socializing.  Uniting.  Connecting.  

When educators come together, they can make a great impact.  

After graduating from undergrad, I was very eager to become a teacher and have my own classroom.  I felt prepared and didn't realize what I didn't know.  Well it wasn't long before I realized I needed a support system.  I went running after school a couple days a week with a couple of my fellow first year coworkers.  We helped each other process how to handle classroom management issues, parent contact, district requirements and whatever stressful thing happened that day.  At night, my roommate, who was also a first year math teacher, helped me create lesson plans and brainstorm ideas for teaching and motivating my students.  I had a good support system, but then I was transferred to a different school and my roommate moved an hour away.  I had to start all over again.  It's crazy how people think that you have it all figured out because you have taught for eight years.  Well, each year is different and brings different students and challenges.  If I have figured anything out in the last eight years, it is that I am a better teacher when I can collaborate with other teachers.  

There are some awesome teachers at my school that I collaborate with, but there are so many more out in the world.  Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) is a way to connect with others, learning from their experience and resources, and sharing your own.  Watch this short YouTube to learn more.

So where do you start building your PLN?  I started with Twitter.  I love Twitter because each post is 140 characters or less.  I get a quick idea of what the trending education topics are.  Sometimes people tweet articles or include websites if I want to read more about a topic or #hashtag.  Hashtags are the best.  Hashtags allow people to tag their tweets into different groups.  I can search for a hashtag and read what everyone is saying about a topic.  Hashtags also provide an avenue for educators to participate in Twitter chats.  Two of my current favorite Twitter chats to follow are #formativechat and #sblchat.  I am a firm believer in formative assessment.  Educators should frequently check their students' understanding and adjust instruction to help their students be successful.  Following #formativechat allowed me to read others views and how they encourage formative assessment.  #sblchat stands for standards based learning.  My school district adopted standards based grading two years ago.  I agree with the philosophy of grading students based on their proficiency of a standard.  Through #sblchat I was able to read others' thoughts on this current trend and learn how others are implementing it.  #formativechat and #sblchat can be used to encourage educators to follow better teaching practices and explore what it looks like in the classroom.

There are so many PLN resources out there.  Diigo is another website that I learned about this week.  Diigo is a website that collects and organizes all of my favorite websites.  I can save a website, add a description, and link it with some corresponding tags.  I can highlight or post a sticky note on the website to remind me of pertinent information.  Although Diigo is a great resource for collecting my bookmarks, that is not all it does.  Within Diigo there are groups that I can join.  When I post a resource, I can share it with any of my groups.  I also have access to all of the websites that fellow collaborators have tagged in my groups.  When I am in need of a resource, I can search for a corresponding tag to my topic and learn about websites and tools that are available to me and how other educators are using them.  Here's a quick look at some of my bookmarks, tags and groups.  

The more you connect with educators, the more you will learn and the more you will have to offer your students.  Aside from believing in your students, the best gift you can offer them is to be the best you can be.  We can always learn from others, so stay connected, learn from others and share from your experience too.