PLNs

=Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) - Ryan Visser=



====Many teachers within a school are used to asking each other for help. Teachers are usually very willing to help each other with instructional strategies, classroom management techniques, and other slices of a teacher's professional life.====

====But what about when a teacher goes home and has no peers to ask for help or advice? More and more teachers are turning to the WWW and creating an online, personal learning network (PLN). The PLN, as described by the //[|Educational Technology Guy]//, can extend beyond your peer teachers at school and can encompass Web resources and teacher-based discussions in online forums. As a preservice teacher, you should consider starting your own personal network right now. Doing so may help you now, but more importantly, will help you as you begin your professional teaching career.====

====As you can see from the graphic to the right (courtesy of [|this blog]) there are many, many, and one more time for good measure, many resources from which you can choose to focus your professional learning. One person's PLN will be very different from another's PLN. A middle school science teacher's PLN would focus on sites related to middle school instruction, classroom management, as well as lower-level science, whereas a secondary English teacher would be very different.====

====Note that a PLN is actually a network of **__people__** who can help you with ideas, troubleshooting, collaboration and implementation and inspiration. As a preservice or a classroom teacher, part of your PLN would include peers, colleagues, technology coaches in your school/district…etc. However, a PLN in this digital age extends beyond proximal contacts. Many people within your PLN would exist as online contacts, and you would contact them through tools and resources such as Skype, Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest.====

This Youtube movie does a good job of explaining the PLN concept.
media type="youtube" key="q6WVEFE-oZA" height="315" width="420"

====Lastly, here's one teacher's take on how she was able to create and thrive in an online-based PLN. She presents the 8-step system that she went through [|here].====

= = =Beginning your PLN=

A great place to start learning about PLNs is here: [] with several others in the bulleted list below:

 * ====The Educator's PLN: @http://edupln.com/====
 * ====Classroom 2.0: http://www.classroom20.com====
 * ====Grow Your Personal Learning Network by David Warlick====
 * ====Google for Educators: @http://www.google.com/educators====
 * ====Edutopia (view the "Community" or "Blogs" menus at the top): http://www.edutopia.org====
 * ====PBS Teacher Connect: @http://www.pbs.org/teachers====
 * ====100 Twitter Feeds to Make You a Better Teacher: @http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2009/10/01/100-twitter-feeds-to-make-you-a-better-teacher/====
 * ====Twitter for Teachers (make sure to determine activity of these teachers before you follow them): @http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/w/page/22554523/Elementary%20Teachers====


 * ===**eSchool News: Technology News for Today’s K-20 Educator**=== || === ===

@http://www.eschoolnews.com/
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 * ===Edutopia – What works in Education=== || ===http://www.edutopia.org=== || ===[[image:twitter_32.png link="@http://twitter.com/#!/edutopia"]]=== || ===[[image:facebook_32.png link="@https://www.facebook.com/edutopia"]]=== ||  ||
 * ===THE Journal (Technology Horizons in Education):=== || ===@http://thejournal.com/Home.aspx=== || ===[[image:twitter_32.png link="@http://twitter.com/#!/THE_Journal"]]=== || [[image:facebook_32.png link="@https://www.facebook.com/pages/THE-Journal/114129301936129"]] ||  ||
 * ===Tech & Learning=== || ===@http://www.techlearning.com/=== || ===[[image:twitter_32.png link="@http://twitter.com/#!/techlearning"]]=== || ===[[image:facebook_32.png link="@https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tech-Learning-Magazine/52409574975"]]=== ||  ||
 * ===International Society for Technology in Education=== || ===@http://www.iste.org=== || ===[[image:twitter_32.png link="@http://twitter.com/#!/isteconnects"]]=== || ===[[image:facebook_32.png link="@https://www.facebook.com/pages/ISTE/8828374188"]]=== || ===[[image:ning-icon.png width="30" height="30" link="@http://www.iste-community.org/"]]=== ||
 * ===Free Technology for Teachers=== || ===@http://www.freetech4teachers.com/=== || ===[[image:twitter_32.png link="@http://twitter.com/#!/rmbyrne"]]=== || ===[[image:facebook_32.png link="@https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Technology-for-Teachers/191553219314"]]=== ||  ||
 * ===@web20classroom=== || ===Great ed tech info=== || ===[[image:twitter_32.png link="@http://twitter.com/#!/web20classroom"]]=== ||  ||   ||
 * ===@ActivJenny=== || ===Educational website of the day=== || ===[[image:twitter_32.png link="@http://twitter.com/#!/ActivJenny"]]=== ||  ||   ||
 * ===@planet_tweets=== || ===Promethean Planet=== || ===[[image:twitter_32.png link="@http://twitter.com/#!/planet_tweets"]]=== ||  ||   ||
 * ===@SMART_Tech=== || ===Smart Technologies=== || ===[[image:twitter_32.png link="@http://twitter.com/#!/SMART_Tech"]]=== ||  ||   ||
 * ===@DiscoveryEd=== || ===Discovery Education=== || ===[[image:twitter_32.png link="@https://twitter.com/#!/DiscoveryEd"]]=== || [[image:facebook_32.png link="@https://www.facebook.com/pages/Discovery-Education-Classroom-Resources/61804670086"]] ||  ||
 * ===#3rdchat, #4thchat=== || ===Third grade teachers sharing on===

Twitter and Wikispaces
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=Your Assignment= ====Using some of the resources listed above, as well as some that you find on your own, you will begin to create a PLN that can aid and improve your teaching practices for years to come. See the PLN assignment within Blackboard for the full set of instructions.====