Monday, August 8, 2011

Journal 7: My PLN


The Personal Learning Network (PLN) NETS-5

    A PLN is a network that you create and learn from.  It is a personal network that you create in order to find people or groups that share the same interests as you.  These interests can vary from teaching tools, news in Education, and technology. In the future, I hope to add to my personal learning network by sharing websites, new information I have learned about teaching English Literature, and any information on working with students who know English as second language.

Twitter
     Twitter is a great social networking site where you can connect with others who have the same interests as you.  While in twitter, you can participate in chats by using hash tags and a key word ex. #2Edchat.  Also, if you have a question you can go right ahead and participate then see what responses you get.  Some responses can include links that may be of interest to you.  I have not participated yet but was an avid observer in the discussion that was taking place.
    I began to build my personal learning network by following students who are also on a path to becoming teachers.  I am also following some educators who are interested in writing, technology, sharing English lessons and teaching resources, and whose interests also include in working with ESL students. I also found an ESL library group, which is a site for language teachers. In order to have a successful Twitter site that helps with learning more about teaching, lessons, and in expanding my knowledge, I need to have a network that is resourceful and shares the same interests I have in education.
    On Sunday 8/7/11 at 7:00 pm (EST) I participated in #2SirChat.  This chat deals with diversity, social justice, and equitable incomes in K12 education.  The main focus of the discussion was on how educators can assist in achieving equitable outcomes for children who have been historically discriminated against.  One person suggested that teachers should teach with accuracy and integrity.  If they are going to teach history, they must teach on historical moments when nationalism led to oppression both in U.S and abroad. This person also stated that it is important when teaching to honor multiple cultures, show enthusiasm, and teach on a common ground about immigrant history.  They also discussed about ways to go about this through a project such as mock trial.  There was also a focus on teaching students to learn to know vs. learn to understand issues in society.  I thought this experience was very positive because I learned that one can easily participate on a chat online by meeting with a network at a certain time and discuss issues on education and how to solve them.  With a network, I get feedback and links to information that would not have been accessible to me if I was not on twitter.


Diigo
     Diigo is a free social bookmarking, research, and sharing tool that allows one to create a network.  When using Diigo, I can highlight information I find interesting on a particular website and I can also bookmark the site, so I can come back to it later.  Another interesting aspect of Diigo is that I can share my information with educators in the network I have created.
     My Diigo network includes five people and my Technology class professor.  I am following a secondary school teacher interested in integrating technology to maximize student learning.  Another person is an ESL teacher who works with refugees and migrants.  Then I also have a teacher librarian who teaches English and ESL.  The reason I added these educators is because they share the same interests I have and also because I can learn from them.
    In my Diigo, I tagged a website that exhibits weekly education news for educators and information on leadership.  I also bookmarked a site called Story It which has so much information on word games and in how to create stories.  The next site I bookmarked is an online writing resource for teachers. It presents the best online writing resources for English teachers.  My last site includes information on how to make interactive books.  The reason I tagged these sites is because they have valuable information I can utilize in lessons when I begin teaching. 


Ning
    I joined The Educator’s PLN which is a personal learning network for educators.  I explored the site and decided to watch a video called “Why You Need to Fail” by Derek Sivers.  He is an educational speaker. His video focuses on the importance of failure for effective learning, growth mindset, and quality experimentation. He states that to learn something effectively one must make mistakes.  He states that if you don’t fail, you are not learning. He mentions an author that has a book on this subject. The author is Daniel Coyle and the name of his book is Talent Code.  Sivers also mentions how doing what one knows is fun but does not improve you.  I thought this video was interesting because Sivers talks about how students learn. He mentions there are the fixed and growth mindset in people. A fixed mindset person believes he or she is already good at a subject and does not make any effort to improve. The growth mindset is a person that continually puts effort to do better work. 

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