As an aspiring teacher there is a lot to learn for the future, which is why I believe that starting a personal learning network now, in my second year in college, is a great idea. A personal learning network is a group in which there is a learner reaching out to others with the intent of learning and gaining more knowledge. If the personal learning network is intact, knowledge will be gained because of that network. Throughout this project I have created a personal learning network through Twitter and Pinterest.
During the process of starting my own personal learning network on Twitter I was nervous, yet excited. I was hesitant at first because I did not know what to expect or even what to tweet. As I began following teachers and technology professionals I started to see what professionals were tweeting, and it sparked my interest as well as questions. I followed Treva Hammond, who is a teacher as well as a literacy specialist and she tweeted a picture about how the love of reading has been lost through the assignments of outlining, inferring, comparing, etc. She stated that she wondered if teachers forget the main goal, which is the love of reading. As I read this I thought about how technology plays a role in reading and what affect does it have on reading. With this question I commented on her post.
As I tweeted this I did not know what to expect, and frankly I did not expect many people to reply. Although, within 10 minutes I received my first reply and after the first reply I received 4 more adding on to what the others said, or praising what teachers at different schools do. Through this interaction I received a lot of helpful input on how to engage students and help them create a love of reading. Also, through this interaction I feel as though I truly experienced a learning network as I, the learner, reached out for input to gain more knowledge in a field that interests me, and that is exactly what I received. My next steps in this process is to continue asking questions, but ask how to integrate the two subjects, which are reading and technology. My follow question is going to be; are there any ways technology can encourage reading?
To continue my personal learning network I also created a Pinterest account. My Pinterest account contains a couple boards regarding educational technology as well as digital citizenship.
The Educational Technology board contains different ways in which teachers can integrate technology into their classrooms, as well as useful softwares for students. My Digital Citizenship board has pins that talk about what students should and should not put on the internet as well as how to be a responsible digital citizen. My Pinterest boards reflect the third ISTE standard as I am encouraging students to be citizens. I feel as though my digital citizenship encourages students the most because it tells them to put themselves out in the digital world, but how to be safe and smart about what they put online.
Another website I joined is called PBS LearningMedia. This site has a multitude of videos on a many different subjects including; math, science, language arts, history, etc. I personally used this website to look at different videos that teach different grammar points. These videos were very kid friendly as well as very easy to follow. I enjoyed that there was a space to take notes next to the video so you can plan ahead what you're going to talk about after you show the video to your students.
The last site I joined is ISTE, which stands for international society for technology education. This site helps teachers with using technology to benefit their teaching as well as solve problems. ISTE also helps teachers build their skills as well as connect with others globally. My main focus on this site is to fulfill number 4 of the ISTE standards, which is collaborator. I want to focus on using technology to share work globally as well as getting ideas from other educators from all over.
I was not able to explore much on ISTE, but in the future I would be very interested in becoming a full member to receive all the benefits that ISTE can offer.
Overall, I believe that creating a personal learning network is very important in the success of teachers in today's world. It helps teachers in different schools, communities, and even countries share ideas and develop better ideas together. Starting a personal learning network now will benefit me greatly in the future as my network of sites and other professionals will only grow from here.
During the process of starting my own personal learning network on Twitter I was nervous, yet excited. I was hesitant at first because I did not know what to expect or even what to tweet. As I began following teachers and technology professionals I started to see what professionals were tweeting, and it sparked my interest as well as questions. I followed Treva Hammond, who is a teacher as well as a literacy specialist and she tweeted a picture about how the love of reading has been lost through the assignments of outlining, inferring, comparing, etc. She stated that she wondered if teachers forget the main goal, which is the love of reading. As I read this I thought about how technology plays a role in reading and what affect does it have on reading. With this question I commented on her post.
As I tweeted this I did not know what to expect, and frankly I did not expect many people to reply. Although, within 10 minutes I received my first reply and after the first reply I received 4 more adding on to what the others said, or praising what teachers at different schools do. Through this interaction I received a lot of helpful input on how to engage students and help them create a love of reading. Also, through this interaction I feel as though I truly experienced a learning network as I, the learner, reached out for input to gain more knowledge in a field that interests me, and that is exactly what I received. My next steps in this process is to continue asking questions, but ask how to integrate the two subjects, which are reading and technology. My follow question is going to be; are there any ways technology can encourage reading?
To continue my personal learning network I also created a Pinterest account. My Pinterest account contains a couple boards regarding educational technology as well as digital citizenship.
The Educational Technology board contains different ways in which teachers can integrate technology into their classrooms, as well as useful softwares for students. My Digital Citizenship board has pins that talk about what students should and should not put on the internet as well as how to be a responsible digital citizen. My Pinterest boards reflect the third ISTE standard as I am encouraging students to be citizens. I feel as though my digital citizenship encourages students the most because it tells them to put themselves out in the digital world, but how to be safe and smart about what they put online.
The last site I joined is ISTE, which stands for international society for technology education. This site helps teachers with using technology to benefit their teaching as well as solve problems. ISTE also helps teachers build their skills as well as connect with others globally. My main focus on this site is to fulfill number 4 of the ISTE standards, which is collaborator. I want to focus on using technology to share work globally as well as getting ideas from other educators from all over.
Overall, I believe that creating a personal learning network is very important in the success of teachers in today's world. It helps teachers in different schools, communities, and even countries share ideas and develop better ideas together. Starting a personal learning network now will benefit me greatly in the future as my network of sites and other professionals will only grow from here.
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