Week 10 It's a Whole New World
How have I created a personal learning network?
It was a "Whole New World" to me just ten weeks ago. Since then, my learning has been revolutionized. WHEN I learn has dramatically changed. I used to think professional development was the 3 days school would release me from work to attend a conference. Forget about it, I have spent way more than 45 hours learning, changing, and growing in the past 10 weeks. Finally excited, I connect to new blogs and realize that it is this very connection that helps me learn. Relaxing to me is no longer watching an hour of TV, except for Wednesday nights....ABC's In the Middle and Modern Family are still a must see, rather I opt to fire up the computer for an hour of reading Feedly or re-reading suggested readings from our course. The chains are broken and I am free to learn any time and every day!
This new world includes new technology. I've enjoyed my Diigo account, not only bookmarking sites for my lessons, but also finding groups to join and reading the sites suggested from our class. I also tried out Facebook, by accident. I posted a comment about class and found several reply's. Since then, I've connected with my cousin in North Dakota. We've been sharing ways to use Twitter and the feeds we follow. Larry Frates and I have been discussing PBL (we also connected via Facebook) He would like to team up with LRCC and teach a course. I've also been brainstorming with a colleague at work. We will be collaborating on a new district initiative this summer. Feedly has been useful too. I follow Cool Cat Teacher Blog , Dangerously Irrelevant, Edudemic, and Kathy Schrock. Only a few for now. I really want to make feedly part of my routine and don't want to be overwhelmed with it.
As I stated this really is a whole new world for me. I've found it all to be so worth while, it just is happening so fast that it becomes overwhelming. So as I figure out my new reality I will make more room for my PLN in my daily routine.
Yeah! It surely takes a lot of time and rainy days are great for catching up on your feeds. I do not nearly go through my diigo as much as I would like, but I have to say I get about 50% of my information right now through facebook. I just liked a bunch of educational pages and wa-la! Again, information coming in to me and I do not need to do anything. Sounds great how you are connecting and working with others. Overwhelming is a great word because I too felt like you when I took this exact course. How could I possibly have missed all of this Web2.0 stuff and how will I have time to learn it all then put it into place in my classroom. Sounds like you are on your way though. So excited to see what you will do next!
ReplyDeleteAndrea. Just wanted to say that I was glad I was part of this process with you, and I want you to know that I want my Grade 5 team to use the lesson plan you created for your final project when they use The Cay in their literacy groups next year.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of the novel, and my Grade 5 students in the USA really learned a lot about racism from the book. I'm excited that you created a way to integrate technology.
Do I need to talk about royalties with you for using your unit???