Post #6

A PLN, or personal learning network, is where you find inspiration, ideas, and assistance. Your PLN is made up of people, programs, applications, and any other tools you use to improve your work. PLNs are especially useful for teachers. We are educators but we are also learners, and we must constantly learn to improve our methods and build upon our lessons for our students. Personal learning networks are a great way to keep up with new technology and techniques to bring into the classroom.

Forming PLNs is as easy as following other educators on Twitter and Facebook. This gives you a world-wide interactive information base. You can interact with others who are teaching the same material or having similar issues in the classroom. There is no limit to connecting with technology. There are hundreds of programs that can lead you to thousands of people. The knowledge base created is infinite. I think it is also really important to build your personal learning network on a local level. By meeting people in your area, you create a contact list that can help you with virtually anything. My cousin was an elementary school teacher in Tennessee and she knew each of her students' parents on a personal level. One dad built her furniture while another had connections with a NFL team and was able to get professional football players in her classroom reading books to her students. With a close-knit local network, anything is possible.

As an English teacher, I will always be looking for new projects to bring life to literature. My PLN will include fellow educators as well as authors and publishers. I began my PLN by logging into twitter, searching "high school English teacher" and was able to connect with several tech-savvy educators, even some Google certified teachers. On a more personal level, my cousin, Ashley Cross, is an amazing resource for all things digital in the classroom. Other first-additions to my PLN will be current and former educators of mine. Who better to call on for help than those who inspired me to teach in the first place?