Spending this semester establishing my professional Twitter account and my PLN as a whole has been a beneficial experience. The article "10 Reasons Every Teacher Needs a Professional Learning Network" does a good job of summing up some of these benefits. One in particular is the fact that PLNs expose you to a wide range of educators from whom you can learn. There have been several educators who I've followed who have already taught me so much and I love all of their posts. One of these educators includes a fellow ISU professor Dr. Bertrand (who was recently awarded educator of the year)! I was introduced to her through our first Twitter chat and she has set the precedent for what I expect out of PLNs and I interact with most of her posts/retweets by hitting the like button. She is just one of the many educators out there who promote the type of content I want to see. Another benefit is establishing international connections; though I haven't made international connections per se, through the use of Twitter chats I've been able to interact with people from all over the place and hear different perspectives. We need these types of connections as teachers as well because we want to know what teachers from all across the world/country think about various topics and to support one another. One other connection I can tie to the article is how PLNs can help teachers keep up with what's new and progressive in education (#9). This is very important to me because I never want to come across as one of those teachers whose stuck in their ways and cannot connect with their students. I've already been exposed to many new ideas about education that I had not previously considered, which makes me feel more prepared to enter the classroom myself.
Overall, these are some of the main takeaways I've had from the PLN challenge. In addition to these, it's been nice to see my classmates' postings as well because these are the people I will be working with for the rest of my college years and it's exciting to hear all of our ideas about education. I definitely want to maintain my professional Twitter account going forward in school and while I'm a teacher of my own to constantly be exposed to various perspectives and current events in education. Although the PLN challenge for TCH 130 is over, my own PLN challenge journey has just begun! :)
I am happy to read that you enjoyed your pln experience and met great people that you wouldn't have known otherwise. I also believe that this is one of the best parts about having a pln, seeing others ideas and using that as inspiration.
I can totally agree with you about seeing everyone else’s posts and tweets. It’s been really cool to be able to virtually interact with everyone and see what everyone’s working on!
Love the last line that you own PLN journey has just begun! I am glad you have been able to see the benefits and it sounds like you have been able to see information that has been beneficial to you. Dr. Bertrand is a treasure :) Have you check out her podcast? The Black Gaze (You can find it anywhere you would typically find a podcast).