Here is my popplet representing my personal Professional Learning Network. http://popplet.com/app/#/4103942
My professional learning network reflects the twenty first century young teacher, in my opinion. Most of the resources that I learn from or use in my classroom come from the internet in some fashion. Whether it be from Facebook, stealing a lesson from other teachers, or reading something off of twitter or a blog somewhere, or buying something off of Teacherspayteachers.com, the internet is usually my first stop when I try to find something new and creative to use in my classroom. I usually take the ideas that I find online and tweak them to fit my students and classroom setting, or I’ll build upon these lessons if they spark my creative side in some way. If I am still struggling with a problem or lesson after consulting the internet, I then turn to my colleagues. I think I go to the internet first because this is the first year that I am in this new school and I don’t want to come off as not knowledgeable. So then I consult my colleagues at work or think about strategies or lesson ideas that we learned in professional development. Finally I use my MSU work as a supplement to these two networks because I find that while I do learn a lot about teaching from the program, most of the knowledge has been more theoretical, rather than practical application. I value thinking about and reflecting on teaching through the MSU programs, but sometimes you need a practical approach or advice, so that is why I turn where I do first.
Mrs. Beamish Learns Tech 