Finding Tools Through Social Media

Do you have a personal learning network? I wasn’t quite sure what a PLN (personal learning network) was until I did a little research. In most any job or career it is extremely important to have a strong PLN. A personal learning network can be defined as a group of learners who gain knowledge from others who focus on the same topic.

As I began to read “How to Cultivate Your Personal Learning Network” I started picking up great information. One thing I found that was just fascinating was about how social media should really be used. In today’s society, there is so much cyberbullying and people use it for inappropriate reasons. The article talks about people who post “noise” and those who post “signal.” When I took a look at my own social media pages, I noticed I have a lot of people who post “noise.” I have decided that I am going to work on removing people who just post nonsense and add people who could help me improve in specific areas. Social media should be used as a tool to improve our lifestyles.

I am going to start building my PLN! I am actually pretty excited to do this! A few steps I am going to take to do this is by following education majors, special education majors, organization pages, hack pages, and religious pages. I am going to find people on Pinterest that have organized classrooms, teachers who have classroom themes, and activities for students. I have already found some amazing themes on Pinterest for my future classroom! I am a kind of organized person but I want to do a better job. My faith is something that is super important to me. By following religious pages on social media, I will be able to scroll and see a bible scripture or something that makes me stop and read it. By following specific people I am going to build my PLN, and I am also going to help myself become the best educator I can be and also a better Christian.

One step I also read was about feeding the people who follow me. At first this didn’t make much sense, but as I began to think about it I thought about my classmates that I am following on Twitter. I am starting to remember peoples ILP and finding things that they might like. So far I have been too nervous to post anything for them, but now I feel more confident in doing so. Once I start posting things my followers are interested in, others will start feeding me back! Have social media as a resource is a quick and easy way to help me improve in specific areas. Something I think will be a little bit of a challenge in feeding my followers is if I lack in finding things they enjoy. This may take time and a lot of practice but hopefully I can get it figured out!

I am excited about my PLN. I believe I already have a great start with my Twitter friends right now! A lot of us are majoring in the same thing which is a great way to help gain tools!