PLN
#getconnected.
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What exactly is a PLN you ask? PLN stands for a personal learning network, which consists of other educators, acquaintances, friends, strangers, and yourself who exchange information and knowledge. According to Hadley Ferguson, who wrote the Join the Flock article we read for class, a personal learning network is a community of individuals around the world. The cool thing about a PLN is that sometimes you all start off as strangers, but soon you all become acquaintances, all wanting one common goal: wanting to collaborate and communicate to make education the best it can be. Teachers need PLN's to be there for them when they have education questions, need advice on how to use something, or just want further knowledge on a subject. Now I know you're thinking that you can do that with people around you but the cool thing about a PLN is that it connects you with people all around the world, which may bring different opinions and knowledge. The video below sums up PLN's in 3 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVsapdwo50M
When talking about integrating Twitter into the classroom, it can become a touchy subject. Some people think that bringing Twitter in the class will become a distraction. Some people think that bringing Twitter in the class will benefit the kids and allow them to reach far places. In my opinion, Twitter is needed in the classroom. No matter what age the child is, Twitter is a tool used for knowledge and gaining access to other classrooms in the world. Twitter can become an outreach tool, allowing the kids to chat with other kids that are in a different state or county. It can be a tool that teaches kids about other cultures, it can become a tool that allows for collaboration after school hours, and even can be a notification tool to update students and parents on upcoming events, homework assignments, deadlines,etc. I found this link really helpful and it provides 50 ways to use Twitter in the classroom, half of which I would have never thought about doing:
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Throughout high school, not many of my teachers used Twitter in the classroom. Some of my teachers had personal accounts but not many had professional accounts that they used for their classroom. However, in the chat I participated in, I saw quite a few teachers who used Twitter for professional purposes. The Twitter chat that I participated in was the #21stedchat on Sunday night. It was on the topic creation vs consumption in the classroom. I thought it was so awesome to see all of the different people coming in, participating in the Twitter chat, some of which were from North Carolina, to California, to Ohio. My experience during the Twitter chat was actually really awesome. It was so neat to get involved in the chat and see what everyone had to say. I got a lot of new followers, which was really cool because it always a good thing to have a connection with educators and people that are already in the business.This chat actually wasn't too hard to because there were probably a total of like 15 people in the chat, so it really wasn't all that complicated. There was a woman who was in charge of it, who would ask questions and then wait for all of us to respond. She then would reply to some peoples responses.
Overall, I do think I would use Twitter as a teacher. I think that no matter what the age group or grade you are teaching, using Twitter in the classroom can be educational and beneficial to your students. Sharon Davidson, a Kindergarten teacher from Vermont, uses technology, especially Twitter in her classroom, to connect her students and their minds to other students around the country (http://kidblog.org/home/kidblog-in-action-classroom-qa-with-kindergarten-teacher-sharon-davison/.) I would definitely do what Sharon does but also use it for other ways, Like the video we watched in class, it would be neat to at the end of the day to have the kids talk about what we learned in class and tweet about that as a whole. This is refreshing in the kids minds what we talked about and also giving parents the opportunity to look at the class Twitter page and see what their kids learned about in class that day. I think technology as a whole can connect your PLN, however I feel that if you want to reach those who are not in the same state as you or even country as you, Twitter is the way to go.
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