Be The Change You Want To See!

[samccoy]

You want to enhance and enrich your Personal Learning Network, so you joined the Greenbush Educational Network.

This is your opportunity to "...be the change you want to see in the world...", in your professional world. You can do that by blogging here, commenting on posts, adding your favorite multimedia and other similar activities. Most of all, YOU can enrich the professional lives of other teachers through your participation here. YOU make a difference, so let's not wait for somebody else to make the difference. "Be the change, you want to see in the world."

A PLN "...by any other name is still a ..." Personal Learning Networking. The core philosophy of the PLN, Personal Learning Network, remains the same no matter what it is called. The PLN is referred to by a variety of names like: Personal Learning Environment(PLE), Personal Learning Community (PLC), Professional Learning Network (PLN), Professional Learning Community(PLC), or Professional Development Community (PDC). It is still collaboration among your peers, professionals in their field of expertise, in my case: education.

When people work to educate others through their own knowledge of best practices, share their experiences and reflect on how these best practices informed their actions, they become your teacher. This is the reciprocal teaching factor that plays such an important role in effective professional development. This is your Personal Learning Network.

Use this time, at the beginning of the new school year, to add these professional development opportunities to your professional development plan, so you can include your Professional Learning Network. If you think you haven't developed a Personal Learning Network, you might reconsider and ask these initial questions about your teaching practice:

Who do I go to when I have questions about an area of my teaching?
Who comes to me for information and ideas about teaching?
When do I share information with my peers?
What information do I share with my peers?

The answers will lead you to your core Personal Learning Network and many more questions. These people might include your principal, other teachers in your grade, your teaching team, content specialists, or any number of other people who share or gather information from and with you.

By joining and becoming active in a professional development educational group like this one, you can enhance and increase your PLN.....at your own pace, in your own time frame. You can access this group once a month, once a week or even daily, as it fits your professional needs.

Enjoy participating in the Greenbush Educational Network and have a great year teaching and learning!

[Simon Brown]

What a great essay! Thanks for the invitation to join - although I'm "not from these parts" - I look forward to discussions like this. I'd also like to point readers to my recent blog post with a similar subject.

[samccoy]

Thanks, Simon. I enjoyed reading your blog post. There are many technology teachers in our area who specialize in various vocational areas, and I hope they will join our professional development network.

[Rich White]

This is great ! ... Thanks for posting !

[samccoy]

Thanks, Rich! I am looking forward to seeing your latest Eduism contributions.