Why PLN?

Why have I decided to delve into the world of PLN's? At first I had my doubts about this...but after using the many applications I have found that I am pretty interested in it. It is addicting actually! I have joined a few of the Ning sites such as Classroom 2.0. There are always lots of great links to websites, or discussion boards or one on one conversations with others that are linked in to the site. I use Facebook, but strictly as a personal PLN. I also use Twitter and this is mostly for professional purposes. I have taken part in a few webinars to better my knowledge of various uses of technology integration for the classroom.

PLN's can be quite helpful in the professional world! I am still very new to this world, but I have found so many useful things! I enjoy skype-ing with friends and with professionals. I have found lots of different teacher's websites through TeacherWeb on Twitter. It picks a website that belongs to a teacher a day that they feel are good models. This has been really nice to help me try to improve my site.

I can see how this would be a difficult thing for people just starting out as teachers. If you don't know what to look for it would be hard to know where to begin. After having taught for 7 years I know what I am looking for in my content area but I am still, at times, unsure what to look in the technology front.

I have had the luxury of being able to take the summer off and have really enjoyed looking into the various technologies that we have learned about in class. I wonder how much time I will be able to devote to it during the hustle and bustle of the school year.