#ShowerGems and PLNS

After an exciting 8 weeks learning about all things design (and there will be blogs about it, and how it relates to educational technology), the next class in my program is Digital Communication Educators.  I think the class is going to be a little challenging, especially since it's coming at the end of the school year, but ultimately I hope to learn how to use social media to: a) improve my teaching,  b) help me reach out to other teachers and learn from them and c) strengthen my relationships with my students and their families.

Photo by Evelyn Chong from Pexels

The first thing our professor, Dr. Sarah Thomas, had us do (besides set up accounts on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, etc),  was to read an essay she wrote for the book #EduMatch Snapshot in Education 2016 (available through Amazon here), and write a reflection.  A "showergem" is that brillant idea you get while (typically) taking a shower and your mind is thinking of both nothing and everything at the same time.  I haven't had any "showergems" yet, since my mind is more focused on making it through PARCC testing and the end of the school year, but I'm sure that during this course, I'll be "drowning" in showergems!


PLNs, or Personal/Professional Learning Networks, is a concept as old as teaching.  Teachers are always looking for new ideas--whether it's for lesson planning or classroom management-- or just looking for people to share in all the little joys of education today.  In the past, your "network" would be teachers in your content area, or your department/grade level at your school.  Depending on the size of your county, you might meet up once or twice a year with teachers in your content area from different schools.  Or perhaps a colleague transfers to a different school (maybe even a different district *gasp*!), but you keep in touch with them afterwards.  Maybe you would go to a conference and meet up with like-minded professionals, but again, in the past, unless you exchanged phone numbers, having a discussion with colleagues would be difficult.

Photo by Eugene Chystiakov from Pexels

However, with today's technology and the popularity of sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, it's easier to find groups of teachers and share ideas.  There are ecommerce websites, such as Teachers Pay Teachers, where teachers can go quickly get ideas (there are some great resources (some free, some for not too much), as well as a blog on a variety of topics and content areas.  Teachers no longer have to work in isolation.  You can quickly search for groups to follow on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, even Instagram!  There will probably be a bit of overlap, since the bigger groups, such as We Are Teachers and Edutopia, tend to use most of the major social media sites.  But, in a sea of information, how do you find people to connect and network with?  This article from the Scholastic site is great for helping you to use Twitter more effectively in searching for people and groups to connect with. We Are Teachers has this helpful article on groups to follow on Facebook, but if you want to search for groups on your own (and aren't quite sure how to do so), Hootsuite has this article to help you.

Why should you form or join a PLN? This post from Teach Thought has some great reasons (and a fantastic infographic from Sylvia Duckworth).  The one that resonates with me the most is:  Make International Connections, especially since I'm a Spanish teacher.  We keep telling the kids that their future is going to be different from the future previous generations could expect, but we're not always exposing them to the international connections that can benefit them.  I'd like to get better at helping my students make international connections.  Hmmm, I'll bet there's a PLN for that!

Schoology, the learning management system that Baltimore County Public Schools uses, also has a helpful blog post about PLNs.  Most relevant reason for me:  Flexibility.  I can find the answers when I need them, not just when my school or county decides to host a professional development.  Professional development is important, but sometimes what my district, or my school wants me to learn isn't the most relevant to my professsional needs.  With a PLN, I can learn about Comprehensible Input, or how to use children's books written in Spanish to support authentic learning, and how to help my students do their best on high stakes standardized tests. (If you're not sure what a LMS is, click here.)

Finding a mentor is another good reason to join a PLN.  Mentors can help even experienced teachers find new methods for teaching, or provide support as they learn about changing technology.  I've been seeing a graphic going around that says that "Teachers do not fear change.  Teachers fear not being supported when asked to change.  There's a big difference."  It's true.  Teachers are willing to learn anything if they think it'll help their students learn more and help them secure their future, but they hate it when they're told to do something with no guidance or support on how to implement it.  Having a mentor, whether in the same school, or online, gives teachers that support.  In addition, a PLN can give teachers a voice in that change, another benefit.

Setting up your PLN will probably be time consuming in the beginning, but once you have it, Schoology recommends spending about 20 minutes a day going through posts, links and articles.  I would also recommend keeping some kind of online notebook for articles, links, and resources.  There's nothing more frustrating than knowing you just read something about a topic, and then can't find it later!

So, there you have it, some ideas about PLNs and why they can be important for teachers today.  Even better, it shows an interesection of tech and classrooms.  Now, excuse me while I go research groups to help me in my quest to improve my teaching!