Making Connections

Growing up I knew the importance of making connections with people and resources in what I was interested in. As I entered education, I realized that having these connections were going to be helpful as I grew as an educator. A year ago, I started an Instagram and Twitter account specific to education and started following other teachers that were sharing their resources. Little did I know; this was going to have a big impact on my teaching. As I started spending time on these accounts, I realized that I was building connections with educators all around the world. I was able to ask a teacher in New York about how she was approaching a lesson and I was able to get a classroom set up from a teacher in England. I did not know it at the time, but now I can say that I was building my Professional Learning Network (PLN). Tour (2017) defines a PLN as "an informal group of like-minded people who share their knowledge and provide resources and advice to guide a learner in independent learning experiences" (p.182).

My PLN is shared below. As I created this, I realized I have relied on social media a lot to create my PLN. I have found that using apps like Twitter has allowed me to connect with more people than I could in person. One strength of my PLN is that I have a mix of professional connections through organizations and at Michigan State University, as well as informal such as social media like Facebook Groups. One weakness is that I do not have a lot of in-person connections besides my colleagues at work. I would like to expand this by attending more conferences and making connections with people in person.

Mindmap created with Popplet

References

Tour, E. (2017). Teachers’ self-initiated professional learning through personal learning networks. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 26(2), 179-192, DOI:10.1080/1475939X.2016.1196236.

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