Personal Learning Network

As a class assignment in my EDM 310 class, we were asked to create a PLN. PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. A PLN is a group of people that you will contact, via the Internet, and then share information about different topics. You can create a free PLN yourself at Free Technology for Teachers. My topic I chose to ask was about technology in the classroom. I contacted five different people and asked each of them about how or what they thought about technology in the classroom.

The first person I contacted was Mrs. Cheyette, she is a kindergarten teacher at Westlawn Elementary. I asked her if technology was very useful for using in the kindergarten classroom. She suggested if I was wanting to be an kindergarten teacher then I should start teaching my students in this grade before they progress into higher grades and not know how to use the Internet. She said technology is very important and it is going to be very helpful for students, as young as kindergarten to start learning how to use computers. She says she has a lesson on the computer every week. She first shows them how to use the mouse and keyboard and then later on in the year she takes a trip to the computer lab and let them show her what they have learned.

The second person I contacted was Mrs. Munn, she is a fill-in teacher. She is retired now, but she was a teacher at Wilmer Elementary for many years. She taught many grade levels, but taught second grade for the longest period of time. I asked her about using technology in the classroom and she responded by emphasizing on blogging. She said use to she didn't see much use in technology because she was use to just writing on the chalkboard but her last view years of teaching she really encouraged the students to blog. She said she would put topics on her blog then the students would have to comment once a week on the different topics. Then other students were encouraged to comment on each others comments. I really found this a helpful tool for when I start teaching.

The third person I contacted was Shannon Whitwall, she is a sixth grade, science teacher in Birmingham. I asked her what she thought about technology. She thought technology was a must in our society today. She loves using different types of technology in her classroom because it gets the children moving around and encourages them to learn. She says she uses the smart board a lot and has the students do different presentations and assignments using it. They love to come up and answer questions when she puts multiple choice questions for test and etc. on the smart board.

The fourth person I researched was Kelly Hines. I looked at her ideas and different thoughts about PLN on Keeping Kids First. I loved when Kelly stated, that she found other educators who thrived on conversations about learning, teaching, technology and leadership in education under her topic PLN's Redifined. I found this so true because there are so many educators out there that need help and different ideas of how to teach and they just don't know about a PLN. I can honestly say I had no idea what a PLN was until I took this class EDM 310. I was really impressed on Kelly Hines ideas about using PLN in the classroom.

The fifth person I researched was Joe McClung. He really likes blogging. He gives a lot of different links on his blog to help future teachers and to also help individuals who are already teaching. He believes that everyone should work together to help students succeed. You can do just that by having a blog and giving and receiving different ways to teach different subjects.

I found a lot of useful and helpful ideas about technology by speaking with each of these individuals. I really thank them for taking the time and letting me have such useful information. Now I really can't wait to use technology in my classroom.