Image created by Samara Marin using Adobe Firefly 2024

Have you ever done something for years only to realize that it has a name? When joined course EDLD 5302 Concepts of Educational Technology, I read the discussion post asking us to let the class know what professional learning networks I was a part of or which one I joined for the course. Immediate panic set in as I researched what a professional learning network was.

After reading the necessary reading 3 Steps for Building a Professional Learning Network and my own reading in Building Your Professional Learning Network, I saw one aspect of PLNs repeating: personal. Poth states that PLNs are places, “that teachers select to explore more personalized professional development.” (2023) Crowley echoes this sentiment stating that the first step in finding my PLNs was to find “resources align to your personal beliefs about teaching and learning.” (2014)

But let’s take a step back, didn’t I already do this? Well yes and no. When I was a first-year teacher, like most, I was drowning in new words and experiences. In the age of technology, I turned to social media to find answers. There were pictures with stories that could answer my questions in the form of teacher groups. I joined a group for fellow English teachers to help me come up with ideas for my reading; on a different platform, I also followed a teacher advice group in which teachers send in requests for advice. To add to these groups, I have also followed Story Corps social media page for educators for years.

However, I did not know these counted as PLNs. So for the sake of this blog post, I will say that my PLNs are expanding due to adding multiple newsletters to my mailing list; as well as evolving, due to changing how I interact with my current PLNs that I am a part of.

Image created by Samara Marin using Adobe Firefly 2024

One of my favorite PLNs is Story Corps. As an English teacher, their mission is one that aligns with what I teach. Story Corps is dedicated to preserving peoples’ stories in the form of interviews and animations. They record interviews from people who have a story to tell no matter how big or small, and have their animators animate them. If the person was a part of a major historical event, then this can help students feel closer to history.

This is one of the PLNs I was a part of that has evolved because of EDLD 5302. I was already active in their social media engaging with their posts and watching their videos. However, now that I know they have a mailing list, I am subscribed to their mailing list for educators.

As a first-year teacher starting the year on January 15th of the school year, the High School ELA Teachers Support Group on Facebook saved me. It was nice to see how other teachers dealt with their everday lives in the classroom. Often, teachers would post different approaches to the same stories. It is always interesting to see the different perspectives of a classroom. Teachers will post lessons and ask for feedback, ask for advice on classroom management, and even ask for help on technology that is emerging.

@Weareteachers on Instagram is a PLN I follow to get teacher news mixed in throughout the day. This page currently has about 600k followers, and the content they post falls under advice posts, resources, and news stories. While the resources they post are below the grade level I teach, seeing the advice that teachers ask about is interesting. It gives me perspective on what is happening in the classroom around the country. The news posts do the same but with a less personal approach.

Image created by Samara Marin using Adobe Firefly 2024

As a part of this class, I joined the mailing list for a few PLNs. While joining the PLNs was because of an assignment, it is now part of my morning routine to open my inbox and see what emails I received from each network and make a list of which articles I am actually interested in reading. While I wish I could say that I scoured the internet looking for professional learning networks two kept popping up when I was researching: Edutopia and Education Weekly. The last one that popped up when looking for technology and education was Tech and Learning. Why argue with results? In this case search results, so I joined their mailing list.

Edutopia has been helpful in surviving the first eight weeks of my master’s program. Since it helped me get on track and stay on track I subscribed to them. Since then I have been reading at least one article from them a week.

I wasn’t sure if I should place Education Week under “evolving” or “expanding.” This was due to the fact that @Weareteachers on Instagram will sometimes share some of their articles, but I did not realize this until I became a subscriber. Ultimately I decided to make it an expansion because it did not become a part of my personal PLN officially until I joined their mailing list.

I joined Tech and Learning because it was geared toward technology in the classroom. Before I joined the Applied Digital Learning program I thought my classroom was innovative enough. Then I remembered something that I tell my students often: “If you have to ask if this is enough, then it isn’t. You can always at least attempt to do better.” This is something I tell students who ask if their work is “enough” because those asking haven’t used their full potential and those who have done all they can don’t ask.

So when I realized that I was thinking of my class as simply “enough” and not what I could improve, made me realize I stopped moving forward; I stopped learning. I didn’t realize this until I began learning of all the innovations that were available through blended learning in our textbook. Not to mention when I joined this PLN and started seeing what other teachers were doing in their classrooms.

Image created by Samara Marin using Adobe Firefly 2024

I keep thinking about how we have to be now-ists and constructivists viewpoint. We have to work with what we have now and construct from the point we are now. How learning is constantly evolving and expanding, and we can either get left behind worrying about what we did or didn’t do, or move with the flow of time. We can either be content with “enough” or strive to always give our best effort with support from those around us.

I started my journey to earn my master’s degree because I felt like I needed to learn more as a professional. In the first eight weeks of class I learned that there is an entire world online of professionals I can learn from. I hope that this list of PLNs grows along with me in the next year of my journey.

Crowley, B. (2019, February 20). 3 steps for building a Professional Learning Network (opinion). Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-3-steps-for-building-a-professional-learning-network/2014/12

Poth, R. D. (2023, July 28). Building your professional learning network. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/professional-learning-networks-teachers