Personal Learning Networks - A "MUST" for new teachers...

A PLN is a way to make connections and share ideas and resources. As I have become friends on Facebook and determined who to follow on Twitter I have found that a Personal Learning Network is a great tool for a new teacher. 

But it doesn't have to start with the ones you've never met anywhere except online -- you can have one with colleagues that you work with. This means that you share tips, techniques, and ideas that you have found. It may mean that there is a "teacher blog" at the school so that those that wish to contribute can do so without the "face-to-face" obligation. Sometimes its easier to jot down a few lines in blog, than it is to ask questions or feel that you are interrupting your fellow colleagues with things that you think you should already know. But the one thing I have found on this Journey Toward Education is that "no one has all the answers" to all the of the questions that we face as educators on a day-to-day basis. What works in your classroom may also work in someone else's and what works in their may work in yours, but if the two of you never talk more than the simple "hello" in the hallway as you way students change classes then neither of you benefit from the "experiences" that we accumulate on a daily basis. 

Thus here is a great link that I found on David Andrade's blog that listed all of the online connections that I've been using, plus a few more that I didn't know existed. 

Why not start your own PLN and then link together with those in your building, your district and as always "around the globe".   After all we are much more globally impacted than we realize and it's now time to work together as a global community!

-D-