Blog Post #5 Part B

What can I say? Wow. It has been such an interesting and fulfilling semester in this class. I have gained so much knowledge and experience in just 15 short weeks. As I look back on the first part to this blog post, I realize how much more skilled I have become in organizing and utilizing my PLN. I use my personalized Symbaloo everyday to maneuver through my PLN. I rarely use the search bar to find crucial websites to my network such as Twitter and Alex, even my Google drives and Sakai online courses. Even though it has taken me some time and dedication to organize and build my PLN, I can find resources, save important information, and share ideas more easily than I have ever be able to before. I have added all of my C4T blogs to my PLN as well. I have found videos, programs, and websites through those teacher blogs that I have actually incorporated into this class. For example, I found this great website called Sway from Denise Krause's blog. My group is using Sway for our final project 16 presentation. Sway is a simple and unique way to create clean presentations for work, school, or for fun. Not only have I benefited from the content of these teachers blogs, but also by following them on Twitter. I have been able to be actively involved in educational conversations with these teachers through Twitter. One assignment during this semester, required our group to answer the question, "what is the new role of the teacher?". Using Twitter, I was able to get immediate feedback from other educators who had joined the conversation:

 

I plan to use Twitter more and more frequently so that I can find and learn more about my content area, build meaningful professional relationships, and grow my PLN. I believe in a PLN because it makes your life easier as an educator. By putting forth the time and effort to cultivate your PLN, you can save yourself frustration in the classroom. Through my PLN, I have gained confidence, experience, and support through peers and experienced teachers that will carry on far into my future classrooms.