What Does Ms. Fox Say?
Do YOUR best!
Building a PLC--Where to start?
It can be quite daunting at first, when trying to build a Professional Learning Network or PLN. Where do you begin? Well, there are many ways to build a PLN some are local, just by getting together with your team or colleagues and some are more global, using the Internet and conferences. You can try to build a PLN around a specific educational interest or you can build your PLN to include all kinds of educational themes. I am especially interested in technology and its useful integration into the classroom. Most of the people I follow in my PLN are educational technologists. Some of the tools that I use to build my PLN are Twitter, and bloglovin, a blog aggregator. When you are following a good number of people on Twitter or through a blog aggregator you will have access to many other educators. I also try to go to educational conferences and there I meet some of the people that I follow as well as new, potential candidates for my PLC. It's really cool to go to some of the un-conferences like EDCAMPS, these are conferences that organically designed to meet the needs of the attendees. I have found this style of conference to be very helpful in building my PLN.
To Tweet or Not to Tweet? TWEET!
If you are not yet on Twitter jump into the pool. It really is one of the best tools for building and PLN but I have found. Click Here for my blog post on how I started on Twitter and you can see that it takes a bit of time to get accustomed to the tool, but I would argue that it is time well spent. Click here- for some helpful advice for beginning tweeters.
One of the best tips that I got about using Twitter was that I needed to follow a tremendous number of educators at the very beginning. I know some people are hesitant to add to the number of people they follow on Twitter however, following more people adds to your Twitter feed. This ensures that you will get a great deal of information right away. In order for a Twitter feed to be helpful it must contain a tremendous number of tweets so that some of them become relevant to you. It is always possible to unfollow people that you feel you do not need to follow down the road. There are many ways to find people to follow on Twitter. One way to start is to look for a list of Educational Tweeps-,click here for a list of educators who tweet about education. You really want to start with people who tweet only about education. It is probably advisable to have a separate educational Twitter account, this way on that account you only have educational tweets. Once you are following many educators you can find who they follow, quite easily and follow those people as well. Again, keep in mind it is important to follow a great number of educators, especially in the beginning, so that you can get a good Twitter Feed. If you limit the number of people you are following, you will limit your Twitter Feed.
The next thing you need to do is lurk! I know that sounds creepy, but it really is not. It is a necessary step in the development of your educational Twitter account. Lurking is signing into Twitter and watching your Twitter Feed without responding or reacting. Of course, it is possible to respond or react, however I found it easier in the beginning to simply lurk. This allows you to get a feel for the nuances of Twitter. At first, I was very confused by the manner in which people tweeted. After a while, I began to understand what people were tweeting about and the manner in which they were doing so. Often people are tweeting singular comments. sometimes those comments include links that clarify or add to the comment. Other times, educators are reaching out for information or help. Some tweets link you to websites that might be helpful, or new. This is often how I find great sites to use in the classroom.
After you have lurked for a time, you may want to begin retweeting, favoriting and responding to tweets. This is where you really begin to build your PLN. Once you are doing this, you will be followed by others. This is not something to fear, in fact it is a necessary part of building a true PLN. You can manage others following you by setting your Twitter account up so that you have to approve those who follow you in your privacy settings.