Chapter+2+Reflections

Chapter 2 Reflections-

**Chapter 2 pp. 33-57**
== **-The authors have listed five tools that would help educators grow their own Personal Learning Networks: Twitter, Diggo, Google Reader, Blogger, and Facebook. Tell how you are using each and some of the positives and/or negatives of each.** == Twitter- I am currently using Twitter as my PLN resource. I rarely use it for anything else. If I have a question, want to see what is new and hot, or if I just want to see what others in education are doing, I use Twitter. I love the 140 character limit that prevents people from getting "wordy" and unfocused. The only negative is that I wish it had some of the features of the other web tools, like a quick bookmarklet or a simple way to retweet but also add your own hashtag to it. I use Twitter, also, for our RV tech PD. I created a hashtag, so that teachers could do a search for our hashtag and find useful, relevant information for our school. Diigo- is a tool that I use, but probably not as much as I should. I do save sites to it, but what I actually like most is the fact that I get an RSS feed for Diigo updates in education. It has been a unique source of information for me. There really isn't anything I don't like about it, but I just like Linkable for my links, so I decided to just stick with one main one for collecting my sites. GoogleReader- I do have several subscriptions on my Google Reader. The plus side is that I have updates to several of my favorite blogs and sites hand-delivered to my inbox. The downfall is keeping up. I am the type of person who doesn't like to have unfinished work--even if that is unfinished reading by choice. To me, seeing that I have 185 "unread" feeds, is daunting. Now I know I don't have to read them all, but there is always that ghost in the room that whispers, "What if that one has something great in it and you just deleted it?!" :) Blogger- I have tried Blogger in the past, but I really don't have a huge need for a personal blog. With the way our school webpage is hosted through SchoolCenter, it already has a blog component that I use weekly and my students have easy, filtered ways of submitting their blog entries to me. What I find most beneficial, however, is gaining information from others who use Blogger. I have found many great educators who use Blogger to put forth a variety of content-based information that I check out daily. Facebook-The downfall....addicting! The pluses, however, far outweigh the negatives. I created an RV Tech PD group, where teachers can find information and links to important educational content. We are doing some serious discussion of using Twitter and Facebook as an avenue for teacher self-selected digital PD. It has received a lot of positive comments so far. Because I also teach in my home-town, I am friends with many of the parents of the students I teach and have known them for years. This has an added element of communication, as it is an easy way for them to send me a quick message or email. It keeps those lines of communication (not only school related) open. As long as we are appropriate in what we post, it can be an incredibly powerful tool. == **-On page 55, which of the seven activities do you fit into? Hopefully, not the Inactives! How do you fit into the other six?** ==

I definitely fit into all of the areas but inactive to some degree. Each of them, however, in their own way. The area I find myself most connecting with is the **"creators"**. I see the value in making things and sharing them with others. From my webpages, to videos and other articles I've written, I am convinced that the best way to solidify your learning is to share it with others. By being introspective, teachers naturally look at how things are put together and tweak and twist them into their own style, by nature. I am also a **"conversationalist"** because I am always updating my "status" and conversing with others on social networks. I am far from addicted, but I love the communication it provides with people I might not see or get to talk to much. It has opened up friendships that I thought were long gone, as time and distance got in the way. As an English teacher, I also am compelled to write so that people want to read what I have to say. It is a little along the way of practicing what I preach. Next in line, I'd say I am a **"collector"**. I am a firm believer in RSS feeds and updating information and posting it to my Linkable. I also am one to put my two-cents in on an app review or other rating system. They can't change what they don't know, right?? I am also a bit of a **"joiner"**, although I am careful to say that I am not a "follower". I like to be a part of things like Facebook and Twitter and keep my profile up to date with something I find valuable. I do not do things because others do them, again, unless I see the value in it. I do like to get feedback and sites and suggestions from those people in my PLN whose opinion I value. I am also a **"spectator"**. I love to follow blogs of people who have great things to add to my content. My favorite is probably FreeTech4Teachers, and I am a self-proclaimed stalker of that site. Every day I find useful information there. My Linkable is flooded after visiting that site each day. I also am a firm believer in the value of webinars. SimpleK12 and EdWeb are two sites I have used this year to really up the stakes in my learning. The great thing is, I have very supportive administration who will offer to come and cover my class if there is a webinar that I really want to watch that will help students. Very cool! Talk about people who are supporting student learning! I couldn't ask for more. I will say, without a doubt, that I am NOT an **"inactive"**. Anyone that knows me knows that this is probably my antithesis. One has no business being an educator today if they are inactive in 21st century learning.