Blog Post #6 - PLN's What Are They?

I have come to learn that PLN's are very important and very useful to teachers. PLN stands for Personal Learning Network and it is a way for teachers to connect with other teachers and share their ideas and stories. Before the internet, teachers could only connect locally, whether it be in the teachers' lounge with colleagues or at a coffee shop with other teachers of a local school. There wasn't much room to expand their contacts and make connections with many other educators. The connections that they could make may not have shared similar ideas or teaching methods that they had. So you can imagine that before technology and internet, it was hard to connect with other teachers.

Students have their own ways of connecting with other students, mostly through social media like Facebook or Twitter. But also new media tools make it easier for students to connect not only locally, but across the world. Looking back to a previous video we have watched for this class, I am reminded of Vicki Davis and her story about connecting her students with other students around the world. Since students are able to connect with other students and share what they are learning, teachers should be able to connect with other teachers and share what they are teaching and how they are teaching it. PLN's are a great way for teachers to not only connect with other teachers, but to also make long-lasting friends in the teaching world. I plan to have a wide variety of people in my PLN so whenever I need help with anything, I can always have a friend there to help. I look forward to making my PLN and connecting with others world-wide.