What is your PLN and how will it help you as a classroom teacher?
My Personal Learning Network (PLN) has been created keeping in mind the teaching profession that I plan to be a part of, the middle school and high school students I plan to influence, and the subject matter I plan to teach, which include; Spanish, ELL and Bilingual education. My PLN consists of Twitter (a social networking site), Diigo (a social bookmarking site), blogs, Educator's PLN (a personal learning network/discussion forum for educators) and ISTE Community Niing (an educator's discussion forum). My PLN will help me be a resourceful teacher and this will allow me to keep my students engaged with new and interesting lesson plans. I also intend to use technology in my classroom and my PLN is a great way to stay up to date on emerging technology and tools.
Discuss your use of Twitter. Who is in your network? Why? Reflect on your participation on an educational chat.
I am relatively new at using Twitter; however I have found it quite easy to use and very resourceful. I have decided to add various educators that specialize in technology, language acquisition, foreign language, and Spanish to my Twitter network. I particularly like the communication that flows between the foreign language educators and how they share resources, tips and lesson plan ideas. I have also included some of my fellow student peers to my network as we have developed a great working and collaborative relationship.
On Monday, March 28, 2011, I participated on an educational chat (#ELLCHAT) that was being held on Twitter. ELLCHAT is a weekly Twitter discussion held on Mondays at 6pm (PST) and it is dedicated to the issues facing Second Language Learners, also known as English Language Learners (ELL). The topic that was discussed on March 28th was “The benefits of growing up bilingual”. I especially enjoyed this educational chat, because I too grew up bilingual and was placed in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes early in my educational years. I find it refreshing and inspirational that educators today are discussing and finding ways to provide an equitable education for English Language Learners.
Discuss your use of Diigo as a networking tool. Describe what you tagged “PLN” and why.
Diigo is a social bookmarking website that enables you to bookmark and tag web-pages and then share them with the people in your network. I have bookmarked and tagged with “PLN” the web-pages that I found to be a great resource and that will help me be a better educator. These websites include; the Educator’s PLN, Multi-Lingual Living, Moving Forward (education blogs), and ISTE Community Ning. I have used Diigo to network with educators that promote a healthy, equitable and diverse education. Technology educators also provide me with new technology tools and advances that I may not have otherwise known about.
Discuss which digital discussion forum you joined and why. Reflect on the video you watched. What did you learn? Will this be useful in your future classroom?
I decided to join the Educator’s PLN discussion forum and the ISTE Community Ning. I especially enjoy the collaboration and support that takes place within both of these communities, and I can appreciate the information that is being shared and promoted. The video “Diffusing Anger and Aggression” is found on the ISTE Community Ning and it provides educators with a calm approach to handle unacceptable behavior by students. This video advises the teacher to take the following steps to dissolve the situation: speak privately to the student, identify the problem, ask the student to “take care” of the problem, present options on how they can “take care” of the problem, and acknowledge cooperation. Although I hope to never have to diffuse anger and aggression in a classroom setting, this video provided me with useful information on how to approach and manage a difficult situation. To view this video click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment