Personal Learning Network Reflection

Throughout the summer, I followed various newsfeeds, blogs, Twitter, and pinboards in order to build my Personal Learning Network (PLN).

For RSS feeds, I used Feedly. After I signed up, I received an email notifying me that there was a Feedly application. I downloaded the app and never got around to using the website again. This is because the app is easier to scroll through. Also, I look at my phone whenever I have downtime so it's convenient to open the app and look at what's on my feed. When compiling my feed, I looked for national resources for information on education. These include NPR's Education section, New York Times' Education section, U.S. Department of Education, and Teach Thought.  From these websites, I learned about anything from school policy, to new testing walkouts, and teacher conferences. I treated Feedly as a news source on what's currently happening in education, about all aspects of education.

For social networking, I used Pinterest and Twitter. Originally, I made a Pinterest and thought I was going to stick with it. At one of my classroom observations, a teacher suggested I get a Twitter as it was fast and becoming a teacher's lifeline.
On my Pinterest, I mainly followed the people that were enrolled in EDUC 422. I had quite a few peers follow me back and we pinned each other's content. For my pinboard, I searched for a lot of assignment and room decorating ideas. My pinboard, "Great Assignment Ideas" had everything from templates for activities to lists of books for middle school students. I found some neat craft and room decorating ideas from my fellow peers' pinboards. This is one of the areas I feel least confident in as a teacher. Any ideas on the topic are very helpful and most pins I've found on Pinterest are above and beyond in terms of creativity and craftiness.
As stated, I made a Twitter at the behest of a teacher that said it will only help me in my teaching career. On Twitter, I follow people I know such as my peers and some teachers I've observed as well as many education and technology Twitters. I tracked a coding hashtag for a while. Every week they would use the hashtag #hourofcode and, around the country, students would log on to websites and build their coding skills. Some of the journalists, and even the California Teacher's Summit, followed me back. I haven't posted any links or started any hashtags. Right now I feel comfortable using Twitter as a news source.

My Diigo

When I bookmark websites to my Diigo, I look for a lot of pages that provide lists. For instance, on Edutopia I bookmarked a list that had websites like Socrative to use as a formative assessment. Webpages that list different apps and websites allow for freedom of choice; I can go to one page for many options. Outside of that, I bookmarked pages that had a lot of good assignment ideas or resources for assignments. As an example, the two sites, Timeline Generator and the Comic Creator on readwritethink.org, prompted me to envision a group assignment. Students could break up elements of a pre-reading assignment and not feel so overwhelmed when starting a new book. Additionally, the websites allow for students to publish their work, a NETS requirement for students. Mainly, my bookmarks focused on possible assignment ideas to stimulate my creative juices.

When following groups on Diigo, I stuck to groups about Web 2.0. Some groups were open and others had to be approved before I was considered a member. In addition to Web 2.0 groups, I followed English and middle school teacher groups. I set my notification updates to weekly, as I thought daily would be too overwhelming. I get emails weekly, usually on Sunday, that give a rundown of what has been posted in that particular group. Some groups didn't turn out to be what I thought. One just keeps posting PowerPoint templates. Groups like Classroom 2.0 often have useful content about different resources to bring to the classroom. For now, I am a passive participant in these groups, as I feel I don't have any particularly useful links to share.

Another social website I perused was Ning. The Ning group I looked at was the Educator's PLN. From there I clicked on different groups such as Edchat. I mainly looked in the discussion forum. Many of the posts were asking very specific questions about teacher's circumstances. The Twitter list on the forum was helpful as it provided some new potential Twitters to follow. In addition, I also looked in the Middle School Language Arts group. There was a particularly interesting post about a teacher asking for advice on a kinesthetic activity for teaching The Outsiders. However, this was posted in 2011. This is a trend I found using Ning. Many posts were not current.


My overall PLN experience was eye-opening. I enjoyed finding different educators to follow and see who they were following and from there expand my network. Throughout the session, the experience became less overwhelming. Originally, it was difficult to know where to look, who to follow, how long do you follow someone until you realize that what they're posting doesn't really pertain to your goals, etc. I am not a big participant online in my personal life. Though I don't comment or link content, I've found it easier to follow, tag, and pin things on my social networks used for education. Almost all the accounts I've made, I've used to find useful resources. The only platform I was not a fan of and never got the hang of is the Ning group. I found the interface not intuitive and not very up to date. Week after week, I saw the same people reposting the same content. Twitter, Pinterest, Feedly, and Diigo all had new content weekly, if not daily, and a variety of people posting. Interesting content, a spread of perspectives, and links to lists is how I judge if the person or group I am following is useful. As a teacher, I am looking for those three aspects in my PLN to help stimulate assignment ideas, stay up to date on new technologies in the field, and continue to learn by reading differing perspectives.

Visit The Educator's PLN

STEAM Powered Students

Sara Hunter is here to tell teachers, "You Don't Have to Be A Scientist to Incorporate STEM." Hunter is a third grade teacher and STEM instructional coach. She is interested in flipped classrooms that are on a "transformational level that changes our practice as educators and provides our students with an innovative learning experience" (Nelson, 2014, p. 9). Hunter wants to disprove those who think they must be a "scientist" to bring STEM into the classroom. To that she says, "one of the important pieces in the philosophy behind [STEM] is removing the role of teacher as expert" (Nelson, 2014, p. 9). Some examples of Hunter employing STEM are reading the story Sheep in a Jeep and having students understand what makes the sheep stay in the vehicle or fall out by using physical models, using mobile technology to interact with nature, and tweeting the Mars rover Curiosity (and getting a reply!).

Similarly, authors Stephen Portz and Glen Bull wrote, "Teach STEAM with Toys" (2014) about creative ways of teaching. STEAM is still Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math but now with the added "Art" element.  The art part is key because these are not ordinary toys but "automata," or mechanical moving toys. That's where the STEM part is important! Educators and engineers at the University of Virginia are researching how we can use, "digital fabrication technologies, such as 3D printers and computer-controlled die cutters, to create educational toys (Portz and Bull, 2014, p. 35). These tools would allow for students to build these mechanisms as well as room for educational innovation. Our students would be honing their skills as inventors! The author's have some suggestions to get started with while we're waiting for the mass distribution of 3D printers in the classroom. Rob Ives, a math teacher, demonstrated how crank mechanisms work by creating a mechanical toy out of simple paper and card stock. His templates for many similar projects can be found on his website. Teachers can also add electronic extensions such as LED lights to the above project and have a crank turn them on. I'll let the authors explain: "...brush contact light up the eyes alternately at different points in the cycle, which could illustrate parallel and serial circuits in a unit on electricity and magnetism" (Portz and Bull, 2014, p. 36). This activity demonstrates all elements in STEM and encourages student innovation.

Incorporating STEAM into the classroom is very exciting and worthwhile. Saturation of math and science in the classroom can only improve education. It's equally important to keep art in student's lives as well. I know it's dismal in California that we don't have funding for art programs in school. It gives me hope that STEAM is an additional way to bring that outlet for creativity back into the classroom (and funding)! As a future ELA teaching, I'm pleased to find ways to incorporate STEM into my course work. Much like the exercise Hunter did with Sheep in a Jeep, there are elements of any story that can be observed through a practical lens. I feel confident in looking at my literature from different dispositions, but I feel overwhelmed thinking about building a mechanism in my classroom! Thankfully, the authors provide some tips and websites that provide templates so both my students and I won't be totally lost. A mathematical and scientific foundation for students to build on can only help them accelerate in other areas of school, in their careers, and in their ability to understand and parse information. 

Nelson, S. (February 2014). You don't have to be a scientist to incorporate STEM. Learning and Leading with Technology. (41)6. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/february_2014#pg11

Portz, S. and Bull, G. (February 2014). Teach STEAM with toys. Learning and Leading with Technology. (41)6. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/february_2014#pg37