Journal 7: My Personal Learning Network

1. PLN is an acronym for Personal Learning Network, as one can note from the title of this post. The main goal behind having a PLN is to find people to learn from, connect with, share with, etc. Most of the people in one's PLN have similar interests such as teaching a particular subject, or researching a broad topic. A PLN can be created through many websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Diigo, LinkedIn, Skype, Blogspot, Pinterest, and nearly any other social networking site in existence. As a student working to become a teacher, I benefit most from having a PLN because I can interact with and learn from current teachers. I have already had several teachers from CSUSM contact me and extend an offer for help if I need any in the future. I am also able to connect with students who are on the same path as I am in order to form a support system while working our way through the credential program. When I do become a teacher, I will benefit from having a PLN because I will be able to exchange ideas and information with other teachers. I will be able to reach out to other high school educators if I have any questions, need any help, or desire feedback on a particular lesson plan.

2. The majority of the people I am following on Twitter are in my PLN because of my ED422 class. I will always have the opportunity to connect with my fellow students as we are all on the path to becoming teachers. In my PLN on Twitter, I also have several teachers suggested by my current ED422 professor, Professor Heil. Most of these teachers are at my current college, CSUSM. I am also following several student teachers, also recommended by Professor Heil, who are involved in the single subject English program. My education chat on Twitter was quite a hectic experience, but I also was able to add people who's insights I agreed with and privileged to my PLN. Since my laptop at home crashed about a year ago, and EdChat met on Tuesday March 27th at 9:00am, I had to participate in the chat on my iPhone. Although this technique sufficed and I was able to actively follow and contribute, next time I will be on a laptop or desktop so I have a larger screen to follow along with the chat. Going into this chat, I had knowledge that it was a popular chat and would be fast paced. A few times I got lost and trying to catch up only made it worse. I noticed there was one person who continually would post the topic of the chat, which was helpful for the latecomers. This particular topic was about the idea of using coaches/specialists in the classroom instead of observers. Many people spoke about the differences, or if they were the same. Everyone had ideas, opinions and questions about this particular subject. I only asked one question, (because I was slightly intimated by the pace of the chat) and it was about how one would find the coaches/specialists, and how much more money people would be forking out. The question was retweeted, and one person said we would extend out into our own communities. It was nice knowing that I could add something to the chat and not be disregarded.

3. Diigo is a social bookmarking website which allows users to bookmark, tag, and share websites, journals, articles, blogs, etc. It is an essential tool for current and future educators alike. Not only am I able to connect with other individuals, but I have full access to infinite websites with information that could help me in my future. I currently am following educators who I found off other educators' Diigo (such as Professor Heil), and also a few students in my ED422 class. One website I tagged PLN is about students complaining that they are bored in the classroom. The writer of this article looks for ideas to help prevent boredom, and also asks teachers to question why the student may be bored. It will be a useful tool when I have my own students and classroom. I also tagged "This Week in Education" which is a website containing current news and events in education. The last website tag is a blog that also has current educational news, but since it is a blog and is written by a blogger, not a newscaster, the posts contain some comedic relief.

4. For the digital discussion forum, I joined the Educators PLN, which is a "personal learning network for educators." This website has a forum where people can post questions, ideas, articles, etc, and receive feedback from any other member of the community. It also has videos, events, and blogs all regarding education. The blogpost I reviewed is about standardized testing and is called "The World 'Because Of' Standardized Testing! (A Little Teacher Humor). Since I have just started researching the cons of these tests in the past few years, I found myself cracking up at this post. It contains four jokes about how standardized testing is negatively affecting students' education and knowledge.