PLNs for Students

I have been thinking for some time that my students should be developing their PLNs as I construct mine. Here's an article that appeared in Edutopia some time ago on PLNs and schoolkids. http://tinyurl.com/9jxwpr. What's most important to me is keeping my students safe on this journey and understanding the impressions cyber footprints can make in their future. I work with elementary, particularly upper grades.

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Permalink Reply by Mariam Raza on June 4, 2010 at 10:03am

I agree completely. I'm getting to the point as I look at the way education is heading, that teachers are a lot less hands on. I want to fully incorporate PLNs in my Language Arts classroom. I want my students to develop their own aggregation of RSS feeds on the the Swiss Family Robinson, I want them to find their own websites about The Phantom Tollbooth. I want them to discuss these novels globally with their peers. I want them to ask the author questions. I want them to be engaged in their learning in this way. And in doing so, i'm going to become less of a lecturer and more of a facilitator. I don't believe in DI,and RTI as much as I do PLNs. DI and RTI is great and I will use them in my classroom -- but I really believe PLNs are the future. the only subject I don't see myself leaving the PLN to do its job is grammar. I feel like I'm the only one who can teach my kids grammar. They don' tneed a pln for that, I don't even know how they'd develop one. :/ But all in all, I think PLNs and PLEs are the perfect way to go for secondary classrooms today. I look forward to your thoughts :)

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Permalink Reply by Pamela Jackson on June 26, 2010 at 8:37am

Mariam,

As we both agree, PLNs are a powerful tool in teaching and learning. What I've found in education, is often times it's all or nothing; throw this out, take this in. What I've learned as a teacher is that my classroom should be a blending of technology, strategies, resources, and ideas. DI can look different, other than the way it is delivered. It can be delivered in a gaming environment to scaffold. There are incredible learning outcomes in PBLs, where students are empowered as problem-solvers. As students are engaged in global learning they will need tools to evaluate websites, blogs, and other social media; to know why, how, and whether these are the best sources to make important decisions.

Pam