Blog Post #5 PLNs What Are They?

A PLN or Personal Learning Network, is the set of people and tools you can call upon for help, consultation, collaboration, or any other assistance you may need. This set of people and tools may change at any time. You may need someone or something completely different than you needed for previous work. This is very resourceful components for teachers who are constantly learning. As a teacher you may face something you know absolutely nothing about. That is where a PLN would come in handy. Maybe one of the people in your PLN is an expert about that subject. Your PLN is built as needed. Asking questions can lead you to the right people or tools. The internet would be the best tool for this. It will continue to change so you can always add to it. It can start with simple conversations from other professionals. One of the first people I would have for my own PLN would be my 6th grade teacher in Rhode Island. I have stayed in touch with her through Facebook. That would mean Facebook would be added as well. She has been in education for many years so having her in my PLN would be very beneficial to me. I would add professional educators that I may or may not know. Anyone that can teach me new things and benefit not only myself but my students would be an asset. In the video, Welcome to My PLE,a seventh grader talked about building a PLN. She mentioned that her class contacted professionals in Science to help with projects. The students were even able to use Twitter. Both of those sources would be great to add to your PLN. I am looking forward to building my own PLN. I can already think of a few people and tools I would add.