Empowering Educators & Professional Online Identities
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I have learned so much about the importance of professional learning networks, some of the key aspects include the access to so much knowledge, sharing of ideas and lessons, activities and many more. Not only does this provide opportunities to learn and share but it creates an environment and communities between teachers with similar and differing perspectives to connect and discuss amongst each other. Having these connections can lead to multiple job opportunities in the future as well as sources to retrieve valuable information from.
Although professional learning networks have many positives to them, with anything there are always some downsides. Some downsides I can think of involving having a professional online identity as a teacher is: negative comments being posted on the page, it can also lead to negative comparisons. Whether that be judging yourself based on what others are posting and doing or judging others on what they are posting and believe. It is important when using social media for any reason, personal or professional, that we take breaks for ourselves and always keep a positive attitude when viewing others posts and making our own.
After listening to the guest speaker, Laurie McIntosh, in class I was able to build a better understanding of what a PLN is as well as the amazing inspiration it can bring in my career as a teacher. McIntosh discussed how having a professional online presence can lead to immense amounts of opportunities in our future careers as well as encouraging us to work hard to make connections with other online education communities to grow our perspectives on many ideas in the educational world. While telling us about her teaching journey she gave us many resources such as two books called “Teach Like a Pirate” by Dave Burgess and “Kids Deserve It” written by Adam Welcome and Todd Nesloney, that she described as impactful in her trek to becoming more involved. Which I can not wait to read! She also expressed how she herself used PLN’s as a way to keep track of her progress as well as to share with her mom what she was doing in the classroom, this helped her better herself as well as show off her hard work. By posting and keeping track of all of her activities and work in the classroom it allowed her to continue finding motivation for her career, reminding her how much she loved it. It also allowed parents to access these posts to be more involved in what their children were doing in the classroom, making more of a connection between teacher and parent. Being able to have her speak to our class was an amazing experience and provided me with another inspiration in my life as a teacher.
Although professional learning networks have many positives to them, with anything there are always some downsides. Some downsides I can think of involving having a professional online identity as a teacher is: negative comments being posted on the page, it can also lead to negative comparisons. Whether that be judging yourself based on what others are posting and doing or judging others on what they are posting and believe. It is important when using social media for any reason, personal or professional, that we take breaks for ourselves and always keep a positive attitude when viewing others posts and making our own.
After listening to the guest speaker, Laurie McIntosh, in class I was able to build a better understanding of what a PLN is as well as the amazing inspiration it can bring in my career as a teacher. McIntosh discussed how having a professional online presence can lead to immense amounts of opportunities in our future careers as well as encouraging us to work hard to make connections with other online education communities to grow our perspectives on many ideas in the educational world. While telling us about her teaching journey she gave us many resources such as two books called “Teach Like a Pirate” by Dave Burgess and “Kids Deserve It” written by Adam Welcome and Todd Nesloney, that she described as impactful in her trek to becoming more involved. Which I can not wait to read! She also expressed how she herself used PLN’s as a way to keep track of her progress as well as to share with her mom what she was doing in the classroom, this helped her better herself as well as show off her hard work. By posting and keeping track of all of her activities and work in the classroom it allowed her to continue finding motivation for her career, reminding her how much she loved it. It also allowed parents to access these posts to be more involved in what their children were doing in the classroom, making more of a connection between teacher and parent. Being able to have her speak to our class was an amazing experience and provided me with another inspiration in my life as a teacher.
Sincerely,
Miss K Barnes
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