What I like about #1 is that it is attainable. Spending 15 minutes out of your evening to learn a new teaching strategy or what a quick YouTube video on a school that is incorporating UDL in their classrooms is reasonable and doable. It is the kind of professional development that may be more worthwhile because it is self-directed and self-determined, and only lasts as long as you have energy for at the end of a long day of teaching. When you create a PLN using social media, you access the information that is relevant to your own personal learning needs.
In my journey to become a more connected educator, I feel like I have stalled a little in stage four. That is only because I feel like I have little to add to the conversation when I am following such strong educational leaders such as Dean Sharesky, George Couros, and Richard Byrne. They have contributed a vast amount of knowledge that has allowed me to add a few new tools to my tool belt and has shaped my own personal pedagogy in significant ways. Part of being an educator is never settling, always learning and growing, just as we would want our students to do. Creating a PLN is one way of making this happen every day. Just today, while passing out treats to costumed kiddos, I browsed Twitter and found a great post on scaffolding student learning. I'll share that treat here.
