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Tweet Tweet: Grow Your Own PLN

plant-growing

My teacher preparation program prepared me to participate in PLCs – Personal Learning Communities. But most educators refer to PLCs most frequently as educators who teach the same content, or grade level as them. These communities do not traditionally extend beyond the walls of your school. While attending ISTE this year, the buzzword “PLN” was thrown around every where. What I learned was these PLNs, or Personal Learning Networks, were built up of educators from around the world. The best way to grow your PLN? Twitter.

Twitter is pretty boring if you’re not following people. The best way to find inspiring educators to follow? Hop in on a Twitter chat. A Twitter chat is a scheduled discussion that uses a common hashtag, lasting 30 minutes to an hour. The moderator will post a question, using Q1 or Q2. Those who want to participate will answer with A and the number of the question they are responding to.

Twitter chats are also great because you don’t have to devote a large chunk of time for them. Last night, I took part in/lurked on four different chats. You can choose to open up tabs and flip back and forth between multiple chats, or try using Tweet Deck to view multiple threads. Even if you don’t feel comfortable responding to the Qs the first time, lurk and take in some advice of the participating educators. Find those you feel the most inspired by and follow them.

Most Twitter chats have schedules. Find chats that fit your schedule, connect with educators in your location (you can always join in on chats for other areas, too), and grow your PLN! Don’t forget to view live posts instead of top to make sure you don’t miss a beat. Here are some that I’ve participated in:

#delachat – Delaware educators (Remember, anyone can join regardless of location) Thursdays 4:30pt/8:30et

#moedchat – Missouri educators Thursdays 6pt/10et

#RCEchat – Remind’s education discussion 1st and 3rd Thursdays 5pt/8et

#Schoologychat –  Schoology educators monthly on Tuesday 6pt/9et

#elachat – English language arts teachers first and last Tuesday every month 5pt/8et

#NCTEchat – 3rd Sunday of each month 5pt/8et Follow @ncte for updates. 

Hope to see you in an upcoming Twitter chat! Leave a comment and share other great chats you know of and when they take place.

Why Edcamps Will Take Over the World

Building my PLN at #EdcampDVIS

A few weeks ago, I was taking part in #delachat and saw someone tweeting about #EdcampDVIS. I had heard quite a bit about how AWESOME edcamps were, so I contacted Karen Huang for more info. To my disappointment, I learned the DVIS stood for Delaware Valley Independent Schools. I teach at a public school in Delaware, so I figured I probably wouldn’t be invited. The exact opposite was true. Karen encouraged me to come, and that little nudge was all I needed to sign up.

If you’ve never been to an edcamp, the philosophy is like an “unconference.” There are no set topics. The morning started with me sitting surrounded by strangers. As we began talking, multiple people at the table showed interest in Remind, a tool used to open the lines of communication among parents, teachers, and students. I thought, hey, maybe other educators here might be interested in the topic, too! Anyone with a session idea is encouraged to create one by putting it on a sticky note and adding it to the program set up on the wall. After adding Remind, we got talking about Twitter in the classroom, so that went up on the board, too.

I split my first session between one about Shakespeare and tech, presented by The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre, and another about blended learning. The latter was set up similar to a socratic seminar. The desks were formed in a circle, and there was no presenter, just educators discussing how to make an effective classroom using tech. I was in NO WAY prepared to be a facilitator, but that’s the great thing about edcamps. Literally no preparation is required. We met in one of UPenn’s rooms. I modeled how teachers get students to sign up, and then we spent the hour discussing the ways to use Remind in the classroom, how to create your own classes, and the pros and cons of using the tool. It was invigorating sharing tools with teachers with so much passion! The Twitter session was similar in that I showed them what I had done in the classroom, but the discussion led to digital literacy, ownership, and engaging reluctant learners. Some of the members discussed how if teachers are afraid to use the tools our students are using in their personal lives, we won’t be able to teach them how to use the tools in responsible ways.

It was 3 p.m. and I couldn’t believe how fast the day had flown by. I could have stayed at this edcamp until 8! It baffles me that more professional development is not structured like this. If we, as teachers, are taught to abandon the archaic structure of long lectures, why would we structure our own learning like this? Professional development should include the voice of those who are learning. Professional development should be exciting, engaging, and more edcamp-y. This experience had me hooked, and I’m looking forward to the many, many edcamps to come!