And this greater connection with other professionals isn't limited to those that you see in the staff lounge at lunch or talk with on the way out to the parking lot after a long day. The availability of thousands of excellent, risk-taking, eager, supportive, and collaborative educators is as easy to find as turning on your phone. Not only are there swaths of teachers around the world willing to work with others, but they can also problem solve issues rather quickly.
Case in point. Not long ago I was asked by a colleague to help them access resources and programs specific to their subject matter. Their subject matter is in an area I am sorely limited in so one of the first things I did was "reach out" to a PLN of local TOSAs and Instructional Coaches I am apart of. We communicate with one another through a "walkie-talkie" service called Voxer. I opened up my phone, pulled up the app, and left a voice message for the group of about 20 educators from the Sacramento region describing my problem and asking them for help and guidance. Within the hour, I had a number of responses as many had been in a similar position once or twice in their time. Already I had many avenues to explore and I had barely begun my research on my own. To have answers so readily available and quickly was invaluable. To lean on others' expertise saved me time and energy.
We are all experts in our worlds. But there are limitations in that expertise as there are a number of areas we all can improve on. Maybe you're the Science teacher that can wax poetic on numerous topics, but you're having trouble unlocking a passion in your students for your subject. Maybe you're the History teacher that has been trying new things here and there but have pretty much been doing the same thing for the past 10 years because of the challenges of wholesale changes. The colleague who approached me for help is brilliant but understands their limitations and wants to grow professionally. I have a lot of respect for that.
We don't need to come up with everything on our own. We shouldn't shy away from risk-taking because of the unknown. We shouldn't use our expertise in our subject matter as some excuse not to grow and adapt to a changing learning environment.
As we brave this long winter of ours, the comfortable thing to do is to retreat to warm and cozy climes. Let's do the opposite in our professional lives. Below are some easy ways for you to get connected with other like-minded educators.
💁🏽♂️ Great Resource for learning how to set up a PLN
📰 Feedly - Great RSS tool to have all your blogs in one place. A lot of amazing educators you could contact to establish and develop your PLN use blogging as a means to communicate what they do in the classroom and discuss experiences
🎤 Voxer - start a local group with your peers so when you are not able to all get together you can still access their expertise. Supports text, images, gifs, but it's main function is to allow you to leave audio messages to the group for them to access on demand
☕️ Meetup - local groups meet up at a designated time to collaborate on projects and issues important to the group
🗯 Twitter - I've blogged about the virtues of Twitter. I'm a fan and using it to connect with like-minded professionals has been a game-changer. Search hashtags based on your subject matter or check out and participate in a Twitter chat
🙂📘Facebook - as if I needed to provide the link to this site. There a large number of educator groups on Facebook and with hashtag searches they're easily identifiable.
There are other platforms and resources out there that can get you connected to others. And the connection is key this day and age. Whatever your platform it will benefit your craft, it will expose you to new ideas, and it will help you grow as a professional. Ultimately, it will benefit your students. And that's what matters most.
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