Blog Post #6

When first reading about Personal Learning Network (PLN) I had no idea what they were. After watching the video, Building Your PLN-A Primer for Anyone, it really put in perspective what a PLN was and what it is used for. Steven Anderson explained in his video how PLN's are a tool that you can use to help you as a teacher. They consist of teachers and tools, such as Twitter or Pinterest, that allow you to connect with educators all over the world to help extend your thinking. Personal Learning Networks allow you to not have to know everything because you have a network of thousands of Educators to talk with and ask questions to. Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and Pinterest could all serve as Personal Learning Networks. I did not realize until after reading the resources from this blog that I had already started my own PLN. I have a Pinterest account where I follow other teachers across the world and pin the ideas that they share. I have acquired many art ideas from teachers on Pinterest and also found multiple worksheets and project ideas for all subjects.

I also learned a lot from the video, Michael Fawcett Discusses his PLN. Michael explained in the video how 12 months ago his PLN was the staff room. Michael explained how Twitter is a great social network that serves as a PLN. On Twitter you can follow other educators and they can suggest blogs for you to read and you can communicate and collaborate with them. I loved the example Michael gave of how Twitter can work as a PLN. He said that one day he asked a question on Twitter about space and within 30 minutes he had gotten an answer from NASA. This is mind blowing. I find it interesting that we can connect with anyone all over the world through a social network like Twitter.

Personal Learning Networks take time to build and form. It is not something that you form over night. To start forming your PLN you would make accounts for social networks such as Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Blog, YouTube, etc. After forming the accounts you need to start following and becoming friends with people from all over the world. You can share and receive ideas from other educators.

My Personal Learning Network is very small right now. I am learning new ways to expand it everyday. I have learned many things from these resources about building my own PLN. When I become a teacher I would love to use blogs to connect with my students and their parents. My goal as a future teacher is to have a blog and post pictures and videos of the students and what they learn each week for the parents

to view. I am already using Pinterest and Facebook to grow my PLN. I have created a Twitter and I am learning how to use it to expand my PLN. On twitter the first few people that I have followed to grow my PLN is Dr. Strange, Dr. Vitulli, and the lab assistants. I am excited about expanding my PLN and learning and sharing information with other educators.