Blog Post 5 Part A

Personal Learning Networks (PLN) are great tools for people in the education field. They contain people and resources that you can use for collaboration and advice. As described on The Fischbowl, PLNs tend to build off of one another. I've realized through reading the assignment for this week that, that is the reason why Dr. Strange requires us to include links in our blog posts. If someone likes what you have to say or has similar interests, they'll want to know where you got your information, what other sources you used, and where else they kind find MORE information on the subject. It's kind of like writing a research paper. If you find a source that you particularly enjoy, you'll want to see where their information came from. The original document may contain more useful information than the one you read. It's a never-ending cycle of knowledge. PLNs are just the way in which you access this knowledge.

The necessity of developing a PLN is best described by Michael Fawcett in his PLN video. On a small scale, a PLN can keep you in contact with your colleges from your school. If members of your school have a Twitter account, you can easily access them at anytime. It's a great way to keep in contact with coworkers and post reminders about upcoming events. Having a school Twitter page can keep parents and members of the community up-to-date on what the students are doing at school. On a larger scale, PLNs can connect you to educators worldwide. As we've been doing for the past few weeks in class, blogs are a great way to reach out/meet other teachers/students. Students in other parts of the United States may be doing work that is similar to what is going on in your classroom, so it may be beneficial to your students for them to read the others' blogs. Making the connections with students in various parts of the world become a meaningful experience. This makes learning more fun and the rates of retention become higher. It can expose teachers to new ways of thinking, different ideas on how to run the classroom, and new ideas for projects to incorporate in lessons. Think of it as a really big meeting. Who better to discuss work with than a fellow teacher?



I think the best way to start a PLN is through blogging and Twitter. These are gateways to great information, and the perfect place to start for beginners. Get your name out there. Post things that people actually want to read and things that you are actually interested in. People with like interests will find your posts and comment on them. Viola! There's the beginning of your PLN. The more time you invest in it, the better it will become. This is, in fact, how I am starting my own PLN. I was fortunate enough to be forced into taking this class. I must admit that I hated Twitter and thought that it was stupid before taking EDM310. I now see a usefulness in it. It has connected me to other people that want to become teachers, something I have searched for since the beginning of my college career. So, before I have even started my teaching, I have a network of people that can help me once I get started. It can only get better from here.