DTL- Reflect- PLN

    I have been a fan of developing my PLN online for almost a year now.  I have met many people and been in contact with companies and organization through the use of my PLN.  I think having a PLN is one of the most valuable resources for a teacher.  
    I can contribute many great skills to organizations such as MACUL and NASET.  I am an educator that loves being apart of a community and enjoys learning.  I am a teacher that loves co-teaching, which has become a big trend in education, and I love to use technology with my classroom and when teaching my co-workers on how to use tech to reach students in the classroom.  I also can contribute my creative thinking skills on how to manage and track behavior of students of the general education and special education classroom through the use of technology.  I also can contribute to these organizations by enjoying sharing my experiences in the classroom with other teachers.  I love helping teachers become better educators because that is how I become a better educator, though connecting with others on and offline.

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Expand your PLN

    There are many ways social media and educational organizations can help me grow professionally.  The most important thing social media has has helped me grow is by allow me to connect with other educators that are like minded or have different minded, that encourage a growth mindset.  Many of the teachers I connected with are not even around me.  I have met many teachers in far away places, such as asia, that I have collaborated with online.  People in my PLN have inspired me to try new things and articles from educational organizations have given me new tools to help students learn in the classroom.  The second way social media has helped me is by helping me gain access to educational resources and activities that are either free or discounted to use in the classroom.
    There are many pros and cons to using Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ to become a better educator inside and outside the classroom.  It is also important to note the purpose of these resources.  The purpose of these resources is for educator to connect and gain new ideas to support them in the classroom.

Pros of Social Media and Social Networking

• Collaboration with others on topics you want to talk about or learn more about in chats.
• Lots of inspiration for yourself, teaching, and classroom activities.
• Views outside of your own to promote growth mindset.
• Sharing project and ideas with others.
• Access to documents and resources when you miss a conference.
• Collaborating with other educators while at a conference.
• Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration!  :)
• Access to information about upcoming PDs and conferences.
• Abundant amount of resources.

Cons of Social Media and Social Networking

• Time consuming.
• Sometimes too much information and resources.

DTL Review- Start Building Your PLN- Twitter

 Picture from https://www.flickr.com/photos/30032901@N04/3275031724/
Twitter makes me feel like I can travel the world to gain any new information.

    What can I say?  Twitter has amazed me.  Not even a year ago I had a inactive Twitter account.  I didn't think that I would ever use it because I didn't know anyone that used it and I thought it would be a waste of my time.  Boy, was I wrong.
    Since I have joined Twitter, I have gained an outstanding amount of resources.  People share all kinds of resources on Twitter.  I have meet so many people that are willing to help me with trying new things in my classroom.  I have found the Twitter discussion to be very helpful.  Teachers share their experiences and give ideas on how to improve experiences in the classroom.  I have learned about a variety of tools to assist me in my classroom, and in my life, through many of the Twitter discussion.
    I have also realized the more I am involved in Twitter, the less I feel like I am feeling alone at trying new things in my school.  I have many people to turn to on Twitter that will reflect with me on how I am using the new tool.  I especially feel this way because I am a new teacher trying to implement a flipped classroom into my special education resource room.  I have learned about a variety of great tools to use in my classroom.
    Twitter has also inspired me to be apart of groups that I normally wouldn't be apart of due to my busy schedule.  I have now joined a book club(#TbookC) for teachers.  In this club, I have met other great educators that read inspiring books that help teachers be a better teacher and a better person.  Reviewing the book with the book club members have helped me pull out all the important information from the text and see how others are applying what they learned from the book to their life.

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Instead of educators collaborating in person, teachers are now collaborating acrossing the internet.

    Another thing I have gained from having a PLN on Twitter is access to different professional developments and conferences around Michigan and online.  Since I have joined Twitter, I have been to two conferences I heard about online.  I have also been able to meet some of the #Miched educators I have talked to online at these conferences.  This is a great place to put faces to the names of people I saw on Twitter and to discuss our experiences in the classroom more in-depth.  Sometimes I feel like I am meeting a celebrity because of all the resources and inspiration they have shared on Twitter.  Another positive of building a PLN is that I can attend a conference without being at a conference.  Recently, I missed a conference due to being sick but I was still able to get most of the resources and important content from the conference.
    I would suggest Twitter to any educator.  It has a rich amount of resources.  There are many hashtags I follow.  A great tool to use when you have twitter is the Tweet Deck.  You will be able to organize all your favorite hashtags in one place.  You will find great educators, organizations and people affiliated to helping and educating children to get a lot of useful information from.

Some of my favorite hashtags are:

• #Spedchat- chat for special education teacher
• #TbookC- book club for teacher.
• #BFC530- chat for early risers to be inspired before heading off to work.
• #Sunchat- chat for educators to talk about a topic on Sundays.
• #Satchat- chat for educators to talk about specific topics on Saturday
• #SlowchatED- one question a day chat.
• #edtech- place for educators to share educational technology.
• #edchat- place for educators to discuss education.
• #edtechchat- chat about educational technology.
• #Miched- a place for michigan educators to collaborate.
• #SPEDchat- chat for special education teachers and people that work with students with disabilities.
• #flipclass- a great place to hear about how others are flipping their classroom and discuss better ways to flip the classroom.
• #nt2t- chat for new teachers to Twitter.
• #sblchat- place for people talk about student based learning.
• #COLchat- a discussion for people to talk about the culture of learning.
• #TMchat- weekly chat about a specific topic using thinking maps to organize it.
• #tlap- Teach Like a Pirate related posts.
• #nbtchat- No Box Thinking chat, where discussion of had about having students think outside the box.
• #Edtechbridge- Great chat on connecting education and tech together.