Thursday, February 6, 2014

Personal Learning Networks and Social Networking

I "grew up" as part of the Facebook generation.  I remember when it first started, and was limited to college students ONLY and it took time to even add all of the colleges across the country.  We used Facebook as a way to connect with long lost friends, and keep in touch with new ones.  That being said, you would think that I would have more experience with social networking.  As we work through the MET program I am discovering that there is so much more to social networking than I ever imagined.  When I started as a first year teacher I relied on the veteran teachers for resources and ideas. As time went on, I discovered that there were educators all over the country who wanted to share their ideas and collaborate with other teachers.  So often I have an idea in mind that I want to do or make for my students that I have never done before.  Now thanks to all of the personal learning networks out there, I have learned not to re-create the wheel and go searching online before I set out to create on my own.

One of my all time favorite components to my PLN is Pinterest.  One day I was on Pinterest looking for some new ideas to use with the Daily 5 in my classroom.  It was still a new resource we were using at our school and I needed some help and ideas.  I did a quick search on Pinterest and found all of these great ideas that people had posted on their blogs.  Those blogs linked me to other blogs that had great ideas.  Before long I had 15 blogs on google that I followed with Google Reader.  I checked it anxiously each day with excitement for what these master teachers were sharing with us (yes, I know I'm a little bit of a nerd).  If anyone needs some great elementary blogs to follow let me know!

I decided to try out edWeb this week.  I was pleasantly surprised at how user friendly it is.  Once you answer a few questions you are logged in and ready to go.  With a  quick search I found groups that were of interest to me.  The two I have become a member of for now are, iPads in the Classroom and Tech Tools for the Classroom.  I am always looking for new apps and programs to try out.  I like that each group is a little different.  The tech tools group contains more webinars you can join whereas the iPad group has blogs, discussion boards, and resources.  No matter what you are interested in, there was something for everyone!
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5 comments:

  1. Kristen Cotner February 7, 2014 at 11:35 AM

    Jennifer,

    I grew up in the Facebook generation as well. Twitter was the next big social-networking site that came after, but I was not in high school when it became popular. My younger brother who is 19 years old told me that Twitter was a part of "his generation" and most of his friends used both sites. It is true that many had to utilize the expertise of the people who were in their physical networks. Now, we are just a few click away from a wealth o f information. I am not sure how I would be able to teach without having the world wide web to hop on for possible ideas. I know that some may look down on the Teachers Pay Teachers website, but I think it is beneficial to compare what other educators are using in their lessons to the materials I use in mine. If you have not been to this helpful website, you should check it out!

    Kristen

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    1. UnknownFebruary 7, 2014 at 1:28 PM

      Teacher's Pay Teachers is one of my very favorite sites. I am on there almost daily looking for things. It's one of those sites where I can always find what I am looking for. It's totally worth it to me to pay the few dollars and not have to be the one to put the time out making the item. I do think its funny how we no longer have generation x and y, we define our generations by the technology that we are using at the time :-)

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    2. UnknownFebruary 9, 2014 at 2:36 PM

      Jennifer I also use Teachers Pay Teachers a lot. I feel the same way as you, it is totally worth it. This year I implemented the Daily 5 into my class. I don't have the time or patience to create cute things. I would much rather spend 3 or 4 dollars on a given item than make it:)

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  2. Stacia573February 7, 2014 at 7:39 PM

    Jennifer,

    I think you make a great point of how easy it can be to incorporate technology resources. Being a first year librarian my fellow district colleagues are fantastic, but Pinterest for me has been awesome. I wonder if... and I go search Pinterest. Like you mentioned one resource can potentially splinter into thousands of new avenues. I will admit that Pinterest can be a little overwhelming too. Especially when you are searching for ideas for Dr. Seuss week.

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  3. UnknownFebruary 9, 2014 at 2:16 PM

    I often get on Pinterest for my classroom too and see things for organization or storage and think "Why didn't I think of that?" I love all the ideas that are on it for classrooms. I search for reading group ideas, math activities and science and social studies too. I have never NOT found what I am looking for on there. Since starting to use Feedly during this course, I am so glad you mentioned that you tagged certain blogs from Pinterest. I had not thought of doing that. I have my favorite pinners on Pinterest and now I am going to find their blogs and put them in my Feedly.

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