PLN’s: Professional Growth vs. Burn-out

PLN’s:  Professional Growth vs. Burn-out

I have been on Twitter for a couple of years but have not been utilizing it to its full potential as a PLN.  I sort of check it out when I have time and have followed some educators from my board and a few educational or news hashtags.  I know Twitter is a very powerful tool for building PLN’s and this assignment is a good opportunity to begin using it more effectively.  A friend and colleague of mine uses it to post student work from her classroom, and to seek out assistance from her network of contacts for various issues or questions her students have (like expert lists).  She also connects with other classrooms to give her students a chance to collaborate.  

I also have had this blog (http://erinexploringedtech.blogspot.ca/) for a couple of years that I rarely write in and have never really shared on social media.  I could begin sharing my learning and experiences with others on Twitter rather than passively reading and “favouriting” posts of others.  I have already learned a lot from my current practice of “checking it out whenever”, but if I made a conscious effort to choose a post each day to thoroughly read and reflect upon, I think I could transform my practice that way.

I do not want to commit to a specific group who expects me to contribute regularly.  I prefer to participate when I have time.  I also have a PLN group within my school who work on following the Professional Learning Cycle as a means to improve Critical Thinking Skills in our students so I do not have time for another commitment.  I can definitely commit to reading a post every day and reflecting on whether or not I will implement the information in my practice.  I will blog about my thoughts and discoveries, but will only post my blog when I feel I have a post that others would benefit from reading.

I just started following some of these people and groups on Twitter.  A few I had already been following.  I think these will keep me busy for a while!

@GoogleForEdu

@Alice Keeler

#edtechteam

#googleclassroom

@BringIT2017

#bit17

@CBC news

@Global News

@CTV News

I am also part of Teach Ontario which is a wonderful online community where teachers share, create and explore professional learning.  I was part of a TLLP 4 years ago and worked with my group to share our learning and experiences on this platform. Sadly, I have not been an active participant since then as life as a full time teacher, mother, coach and wife does not afford me much time to indulge in PLN’s.  So while I am aware of the many professional benefits of participating in PLN’s, I strongly feel it has to be on terms that work for me. Planning and delivering good lessons and providing timely feedback to the students I have in front of me every day has to be my top priority.  Daily participation in a PLN is simply too much to ask.  Teachers need to give themselves permission to enjoy their daily lives with their families and friends.  We are no good to our students and colleagues if we are burnt out trying to keep up with our daily teaching duties and then feeling pressured to contribute to a PLN.  That is just how I feel.  Sorry.  Not sorry.

Student Collaboration with Google!

I am choosing to write about google drive/classroom/hangout.  I feel like there is a huge variety of other tools out there but almost everything you would ever need to do with student collaboration can be accomplished with the google apps.  I

Google docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, Blogger, You Tube and Draw (all part of google drive) allow students to create documents, slide show presentations, or posters/drawings, flow charts, diagrams, webquests, videos, questionnaires, etc.  With the “Share” feature, they are able to “send” the document/artifact to another student’s google account so that they can collaborate in real time on a project.  This allows for peer editing in and outside of class time, working on any type of group project, creating visuals, sharing websites, the list is endless.  Everything that each student contributes can be tracked by the classroom feature, so the teacher can see who did what on the project.  When web sources are used, google will automatically cite the webpage to the document, ensuring students are giving credit to sources and allowing other students in the group to see what their partners are using for resources.  When a student is away from class and the rest of the group carried on with a project, he or she can see what was completed and even work on it from home or anywhere, so they do not fall behind.  When students blog about their work, there is a fantastic opportunity for peer and teacher feedback.

If the class is involved with a Google Hangout with another group of students, those who miss the day when the hang-out happens can watch the recording of the event at a later date, or the discussion can be revisited by those who have the link later for any reason.

The other big advantage to Google is that all students can be set up through the board server with a g-drive providing an extra layer of privacy protection for students and staff.  Many of the free apps out there ask for student emails and names in order to set them up, and it is difficult to know which ones are safe in terms of protection of privacy.  Many apps sell user information to third parties who then use it for a variety of purposes.

Some examples of how I have used Google drive with my classes include, whole class editing of an Article Summary Assignment to model the process for the class.  A group of 6 students working on a slide show about the 6 main groups of Nutrients.  Planning sheets for my cooking class, each student signs up for the various tasks to be done in a Google Sheet prior to every cooking day.  Serves to create the groups and ensures everyone knows who is responsible for which tasks.  Peer editing of writing tasks such as essay questions, or journal entries.  Group discussions in a shared google doc, brainstorming in google drawing or blank google doc posted to my google classroom stream. Blogging about journal questions and commenting on each others' posts in Blogger.

I plan to use Google Hang-out later this term with my cooking class so they can communicate with the grade 4-5 class about what recipes they would like to make when they visit us for a cooking lesson at the end of the semester.

There are so many features to explore with each of the google apps, I am really trying to keep my life simple and stick with these for now.  I was intrigued by Bubble.us for mind mapping, and I can see many uses for Padlet as well, but it is really easy to get overwhelmed with educational apps so I have narrowed my focus and plan to stick with Google for the near future at least!