As I get to work with more and more educators, I am somewhat surprised by the number of great teachers who keep to themselves. I'm not sure if this is a habit from days past, or if it is a personal choice, but I do know that this profession needs everyone to share. The easiest way to share (give and take) with as large a group as possible is through digital media. The power of developing a digital PLN is absolutely amazing!
What
is that power? As Michael Zimmer (one member of my PLN) states in his blog, "Imagine
for a minute teaching in a school where some of the most influential
educators all teach. Imagine teaching in a school where the
administrators encourage new and innovative ways to teach to your
students. Imagine teaching in a school where all those teachers share
their ideas and lessons openly without fear of being seen as 'that
teacher'. That is the experience of a PLN. Sharing ideas and
experiences with people who enjoy what you have to share and openly
share their personal experiences." (http://edutechintegration.blogspot.com/)
The only thing I would add to that is, imagine needing a lesson or
other resource and being able to ask hundreds of professionals for
assistance.
Now, how does one go about developing a
PLN? Well, I was first introduced to PLNs by a friend and former
colleague of mine through Twitter. Actually, it was Twitter through Tweetdeck,
a very nice way of organizing your social media accounts. In addition to Twitter, there are countless other digital media options. The most popular are Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, and Diigo. I also have connected with people on Classroom 2.0 and The Educator's PLN. In addition, I have there are great educator-created blogs, websites, and about a million other resources.
(A word of advice: Take your time in getting involved with the many sites designed to help build PLNs.)
Using Twitter can be a bit overwhelming, but there are some tips to make it a bit easier to figure out. The best tips I can recommend are to start out following a small, select group of individuals and to use educational hashtags
such as #edchat. (Basically, hashtags are a way for Twitter to collect
certain tweets and group them by those hashtags.) (I have a column on
my Tweetdeck for all messages tagged with #edchat so I get all of these
messages in one place.)
Google+, in my opinion, is a bit easier to manage. Thanks to "Circles", organizing your PLN is much smoother and user-friendly than many other social media options. This allows one account to easily separate your personal life from your professional life. (I use them to break down my professional life even further by creating a circle for people at my school, people I know personally, my MVPs, etc.) In addition to creating circles, you can join communities to help you connect with people who are doing similar things as you. (I just joined the "Chromebook EDU" community, and it has already played a large part in my knowledge of my new Chromebook.)
I've only shared a few of the options that are out there, but you can start to see just how impressive PLNs can be. (Feel free to add more in the comments.) So, you can make the choice,
keep using the same old resources and talking to the same few teachers
or develop your PLN and open up the world to you and your students.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Saturday, March 9, 2013
21st Century Teachers Must Be 21st Century People
Ask any teacher how to best teach students, and many will mention
something about modeling. We understand that, if we want students to
behave a certain way, we must model that behavior. This is true about personal interactions, work-ethic, manners, or any other behavior.
However, as is often the case, best practice gets tossed out of the window as soon as technology enters the picture. Modeling usually gets set aside due to a lack of knowledge that brings about fear or a lack of understanding that technology is vital to our students' futures. All of a sudden, students are expected to learn without support. We want students to keep their devices away while they watch us pull ours out on a regular basis. We want students to use their laptops only for work, while we are using them for real-life, every-day activities.
The reality is that technology is here to stay. It is guaranteed to change, but it is not going away. Whether it's Twitter, Facebook, or Google+; blogs, websites, or wikis; tablets, laptops, or smartphones; i-OS, Android, or Linux; students will NEED to be competent with technology if they are to have a chance at success in the future.
In my opinion, if we really want to be successful at preparing students to use technology in appropriate, powerful, and creative ways, we need to be modeling. But, how can we model something we can/do not do? Sure, we could all take some professional development courses. But, is that really enough? I do see the value of good PD, but can that actually give us all of the experience needed to model technology-use for the students? I don't believe it can. After all, imagine if our students only practiced reading, writing, and math in school. Could they actually be proficient at any of the necessary skills to be successful in life? That's absurd, right?
If we still have the passion to be teachers, we need to "Like" something, tweet something, post videos on-line, master search engines, use a mobile device, create a circle, or share a bookmark. (You can find a much more complete list of skills here.) And, we need to do these things as a regular part of our normal lives. After all, we wouldn't accept our students telling us they don't have time to read, write, or use math outside of school, would we?
However, as is often the case, best practice gets tossed out of the window as soon as technology enters the picture. Modeling usually gets set aside due to a lack of knowledge that brings about fear or a lack of understanding that technology is vital to our students' futures. All of a sudden, students are expected to learn without support. We want students to keep their devices away while they watch us pull ours out on a regular basis. We want students to use their laptops only for work, while we are using them for real-life, every-day activities.
The reality is that technology is here to stay. It is guaranteed to change, but it is not going away. Whether it's Twitter, Facebook, or Google+; blogs, websites, or wikis; tablets, laptops, or smartphones; i-OS, Android, or Linux; students will NEED to be competent with technology if they are to have a chance at success in the future.
In my opinion, if we really want to be successful at preparing students to use technology in appropriate, powerful, and creative ways, we need to be modeling. But, how can we model something we can/do not do? Sure, we could all take some professional development courses. But, is that really enough? I do see the value of good PD, but can that actually give us all of the experience needed to model technology-use for the students? I don't believe it can. After all, imagine if our students only practiced reading, writing, and math in school. Could they actually be proficient at any of the necessary skills to be successful in life? That's absurd, right?
If we still have the passion to be teachers, we need to "Like" something, tweet something, post videos on-line, master search engines, use a mobile device, create a circle, or share a bookmark. (You can find a much more complete list of skills here.) And, we need to do these things as a regular part of our normal lives. After all, we wouldn't accept our students telling us they don't have time to read, write, or use math outside of school, would we?
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