Building My PLN

I have been trying to build my PLN over the past few months. After reading Jeff Utecht's "Reach: Building Communities and Networks for Professional Development" I have been implementing some of his suggestions as to how to build a PLN. Mostly these four:

1) Put a picture of yourself or something that represents you

2) Add your blog address or twitter account to comments.

3) Add to your "About" pages whether Twitter, blogs or other tools

4) Engage in discussion, exchange information

Using these suggestions I have been posting and commenting on Classroom 2.0 and I have been putting more effort into Twitter. I have tweeted trying to drum up some more audience for my class's Storybird stories, retweet and added more people to my 'following' list. In return, I have had some follow me back. Also, I've used Facebook to get some more comments for my student's stories.

Facebook might be my 5th strategy. I think that FB is good for those reluctant to engage in online communities (like me). Using FaceBook as a baby step might be a good forum to 'get your feet wet' in. My FB account includes a mix of friends and colleagues all of whom are supportive of me. I asked for help and I asked for others to comment on my classroom blog and with that success I have been more confident in my attempts to put myself out there. For me it was a good step to becoming a more confident poster/commenter in other forums.

It certainly has been a reach for me. Putting myself out there has not been easy and I've had to force myself to do so. However, I am beginning to see the benefits of doing so. First off, I am seeing benefits for my students. Through my PLN I have encouraged a broader learning community for them. I now have groups of people I can draw upon to view and provide feedback on the work of students. Because of the feedback from others, students are being encouraged to write more and to revise and edit their work more.

Secondly, I am finding blog posts that interest me from people I did not know about on subjects that interest me and in some cases did not know much about, such as reverse instruction.

So, while I find it difficult to reach out I will continue to do so in the future. Now that I have begun actively participating in my PLN and have seen some of the benefits first hand, I feel the need to continue and add to my PLN for my own learning and for that of my students.