My PLN
A Professional Learning Network I can actually use...
Introduction
Blogs/News
The First Grade Parade
Fun in First
Finding Answers
Edutopia has articles on just about any topic you can think of, videos and you can also join in on conversations and ask questions. Here is the link http://www.edutopia.org/
It is free to create an account and if you use a form of social media you already have, like Facebook or twitter, registration takes less than 3 minutes.
Another resource I found was Teacher Tube Often I want answers but I also want to see those answers in action. Teacher Tube has just about everything, videos, blogs, documents of all kinds that you can download...it can almost be overwhelming. However, if you are looking for something specific, chances are you will find it here. Here is the link http://www.teachertube.com/
I usually prefer to ask around my building or ask fellow corp members for answers to questions or resources I am looking for. While there is value in asking those around you, there is also value in having a method of finding those answers when others are not available. Using these resources increased my technological savvy because I first had to learn how to navigate them and find what I need to consider them a resource. I even opened up an account on Edutopia (I hate opening accounts on anything). Both of these resources have a wealth of information that can be almost immediately transferred to the classroom and having them on hand in one place means I can get to them quickly. This corresponds to the ISTE standard of engaging in professional growth and leadership. By seeking out answers I am driving and directing my own professional growth as a teacher.
Collaborate
- GoogleDocs- https://drive.google.com/
- Common Curriculum- http://www.commoncurriculum.com/
Moving out of my comfort level with collaboration
I kind of dislike sharing lesson plans. Not because I dislike collaboration, but sometime I feel like lesson plans are part of a diary only to be shared with my classroom, and sometimes my lessons are very specific to me and how I instruct and the students I am instructing to. However, Common Curriculum is a great common core based site that allows educators to build and share lesson plans. While my school does not plan on paying for this anytime soon, using individual accounts can still allow grade level teams to collaborate on lessons and standards and have a space to easily change and edit those plans as necessary. This corresponds to ISTE standard 3, Model Digital Age Work and Learning. Another tool equally as beneficial and more well known is google docs. Check out the following articles on specific ways to use google docs as an elearner, in the classroom and as an educator.