Connected Educators Benefit From and Inspire Others

Old School Room / Catherine Snodgrass / CC BY 2.0

A leftover photo of a student. A few papers. More than 30 desks nailed to the floor in neat rows. Empty shelves. This was the classroom I walked into the summer before my first year of teaching. The textbooks were the curriculum. No professional development was offered for new teachers. I met a few experienced teachers and a kind principal. They were my support for my first year of teaching. That was the extent of my being connected when I began teaching. Of course, this was before technology played a role in education.

Today new teachers have so many more options for connecting with other educators and finding support as they begin their teaching careers. My responsibilities and opportunities have changed throughout my career. And so have the ways that I connect with other educators.

Local, state, and national organizations and their conferences have provided many opportunities for me to meet others and learn from outstanding educators. I have had the chance to grow as I have shared my experiences with others. And technology tools such as blogs and Twitter have added more ways we can connect and grow today.

http://bit.ly/connectededucatormonth

How are you connected with other educators? Are you benefiting from being involved with a PLN (personal learning network)? Have you searched for #ce14 on Twitter to find what today's educators are sharing during Connected Educator Month? Have you shared how you are connected? My PLN is such a rich source of ideas and experiences from educators who strive to teach and learn and help both students and other educators. I am so very thankful for them. No teacher today--new or experienced--needs to teach without the extensive support of other educators who are passionate about their mission and willing to share!

Building Your Personal Learning Network (PLN)

One of the best features of teaching is that every school year has a FIRST DAY. A new beginning. It's always exciting to think about what I'm going to do differently this year to help my students learn how to teach others. Two years from now my students will be planning THEIR first days for their students!

I believe that one of the best changes since my first day in my own classroom is that teachers no longer go into their classrooms, close the doors, and teach on their own islands. Today we communicate with each other. We collaborate on what works, what doesn't, and how we can do it—whatever it is—differently... and better. And our students benefit from our communicating and collaborating with each other.

One of the topics that my students and I will explore this semester is our Personal Learning Networks (PLNs). I've been putting together some ideas about PLNs. What would you add to this diagram that I created using Inspiration?