The Power of a PLN

I am a member of the TCEA Area 4 community. This PLN supports educators local to the Houston area. There are opportunities to post events, meetups, resources, ask questions, and collaborate. Currently, it is not very active but I would like to spur some engagement, especially since it is a local.

I joined The Current - a branch of Educator Innovator. This organization supports mentors, teachers, youth workers, museum educators, etc. in order to connect to students and engage communities. The Current is a user-curated and created collection of blog posts. I am super excited to contribute to the already extensive collection of shared stories and resources. Another branch of this organization is NWP - the National Writing Project - which hits all levels, all content, in an effort to improve the teaching of writing accross the country.

Additionally, I am a huge Cornelius Minor fan and his work on bias free teaching. In order to stay current with this and other issues, I began following the Heinemann publishing blog. I feel this will spark interest in emerging educational topics outside of just technology.

PLNs are imperative to expand your vision beyond your niche and position. It is invaluable to bring in other perspectives, resources, and feedback. "Work smarter not harder!"

TeachThought has a great graphic that really drives the point home: