I taught at a small private school where I was the only one teaching world history to 6th graders. There was no one near to collaborate with. I quickly realized that I needed that connection with fellow educators teaching what I was teaching. I started to grow my professional learning network (PLN) online. I started by reading blogs and visiting websites written by other educators. Going to conferences I was introduced to Pinterest and Twitter, but these were not working for me. I transitioned into needing to being able to interact with these authors and I discovered the teacher Instagram community. This is a community filled with teachers from all over the world and all levels of prestige. Instagram helped to connect me with other teachers who were experiencing the same things and allows us to find lesson ideas.
You might be thinking how much can you actually connect with these teachers. “A lot!” is my answer. I was attending a conference in July and needed a roommate. I found two other teachers who I followed but never had actually met before and we roomed together. This was an awesome decision and we learned so much from each other at this conference.
I know it sounds crazy rooming with complete strangers. I was a little nervous, but my PLN grew by leaps and bounds that week.
These teachers inspire and challenge me to think and be a better teacher!
If you haven’t ever checked out Instagram to collaborate with other teachers, I’d suggest looking at #teachersfollowteachers or #teachersofinstagram.
-Laura
This post can originally be found at https://historytechcarrot.wordpress.com/2018/09/16/growing-your-pln/
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