PLN Reflection (Twitter)

Brian DEdu 210

Flex Lab 12@VerySmartBrian

Growth

Growth Today

Explanation of Growth

This what I intended my PLN to be

Explanation of Growth

• My PLN has now become a page where I follow people who are experts in my fields (Special Education and Math), but I also follow people who I share similar interest that are not education related

• I have used it for reflection, but I have not posted those reflections

• The people I follow are very innovative, but I have yet to contribute

• I am building a tolerance of people who share differing views than I do. I always like seeing and hearing both sides to the story.

• Everyone I have followed has given me something to learn and reflect on. I love seeing what thoughts are running through peoples minds.

Jerry Blumengarten• @cybraryman1• “You do not have to wait for PD to come to you. There are an abundant of free &

relevant PD opportunities online.”• This is one of the suggestions to follow in Flex Lab 2• He participates and host the regular #edchat every Tuesday

– He has covered things like is homework really relevant in education?– Him and I share the opinion if students really want to learn they will do it on their

own time.– Students have their own lives and by assigning homework when we are not

around to help them is not the right thing to do• To my surprise he has a algebra page even though he is not licensed to teach in

math. This will help me because he has a how to make math relevant page. As a future math teacher this is the one question I am always asking myself how can I make math relevant. So he has just helped me with this he has links to video’s.

• One of the main reasons I indicated using a PLN was the access to free resources and other materials to use. to use and he has provided me with a lot

– While the material is not his he has links to other peoples stuff this acts as his very own PLN

– http://www.khake.com/page56.html

Sir Ken Robinson• @SirKenRobinson• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41u41C3E2Yg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D41u41C3E2Yg&app=desktop• “Teaching is an art form it’s not a delivery system” (Sir Ken Robinson, 2013)• I was first introduced to him in my Edu 250 class. Just the way he spoke of education.

He made me question myself as a future teacher. Do I want my students to actually learn or do I just want to deliver knowledge to them.

• I have watched a lot of his talks on YouTube, and I can see he has a real passion for education, and he has reignited my passion at a time when I was questioning is this something I really want to do.

• He doesn’t post too often, and when he does post it is usually a link to a video of one of his talks and I am always excited to watch them when they come up.

• Education is always changing and I feel some of the teachers I had were just there to “deliver” the content and didn’t really challenge me to reflect and consider how is the relevant to me.

• As a future math teacher I need to find a way to make math an art and not just me saying here are the notes and here is the test. I want to make math meaningful for my students and this is still something I am working on.

• He also gives great insight into special education my minor, and how we need to rethink what it means to have a learning disability

Autism Research

• @autism_research• This Twitter account posts relevant articles for research

done on Autism• As a future special education teacher I need to be on top

of all the current research done on autism since it is something I will commonly encounter in the classroom.

• They also list some helpful technologies I can use.• This is one of the places where I know for sure I need to

know how to take advantage of technology.• Here is a helpful article on how screening for Autism has

been improved• https://twitter.com/autism_research

Contributions to PLN• I have not really contributed anything to my PLN. I mostly just re

tweet stuff. I think this is because of my shy nature. I am putting myself out there for other people.

• I feel like I have nothing witty or intelligent to contribute back. Everyone I am following just Tweets such intelligent stuff.

• One thing I need to work on is coming out of my shell and not be afraid to be apart of a group.

• I also need to get used to the fact that education “needs to be more open” (Couros, 2011) and is no longer closed to the school I work in.

• In order for me to be a good teacher I can’t be afraid to put myself out their and contribute to my PLN. If I don’t people will stop contributing to me and I will be by myself with the little resources I would have

• I think another problem I have is I only use social media like Facebook to talk with my friends so I am rarely on.

ReferencesCouros, G. (2011, March 25). Why Social Media can and is Changing

Education. Retrieved from: http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/3024

Donald, B. (2013). Lino Screenshot [Photograph]. Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/a/ualberta.ca/bdonaldedu210/module-2

Jerry Blumengarten (2013, November 19). Topic: Is there still a fear of technology among educators that prevents them from collaboration thru technological connectedness? [Twitter Post] Retrieved from: https://twitter.com/cybraryman1/status/402856590954332160

Medicalxpress.com. (2013, November 15). Computer Automation System Improves Autism Screening Rate. Retrieved from: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-11-automation-autism-screening.html

WISEQatar. (2013, October 29). WISE 2013: Best of WISE Voices [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41u41C3E2Yg