Day 22: PLN

What does your PLN look like, and what does it to for your teaching?
    This made me laugh. When I see the abbreviation PLN, the first thing I think about is the Polish currency unit so for I while I couldn't figure out what money could possibly have to do with my teaching. (Not a lot, as we all know.) Then I resorted to my old friend Google and came to the conclusion that PLN in this context probably stood for Personal Learning Network.
     There are a lot of opportunities out there for educators to connect, but so little time. I am happy when I can talk and share with my colleagues at school, but during the school year I feel I have to scramble to really dig deeper into some of these apps, blogs and websites. Writing this blog is currently taking a lot out of me. Where do all these people who Twitter, blog and participate in forums find the time?
    Maybe my age again has something to do with it, but I have never been a fan of Twitter, though I admire people who always have something interesting to contribute to the conversation. From time to time I will contribute to the discussion on one of the IB forums or watch a video on Ted and when I am learning something specific, I will consult one of the sites like te@chthought or watch videos on Youtube. This is when a PLN is most useful to me, when I can get practical advice, when someone says or writes "been there, done that, doesn't really work unless you do...".Then it really has an impact on my teaching.
    I am happy that so many people share things with others and I feel sorry that I can't always share my stuff, but sometimes I just want to read a book instead of spending another hour on the web. A PLN is  great, but I use mine in moderation.

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