Journal 7 Personal Learning Network NETS-T 5

The five people in my network are; Michael Werner, Jessica Garcia, Lisa Dabbs, Steven W. Anderson, and Parentella. I am following Michael Werner because he looks like someone that can give me useful information about education. From reading the Tweets that he has posted on his page I find that I can use some of the free web based software applications, such s Prezi, that he has shared with his followers in my own future classroom. I chose to follow my EDUC 422 classmate Jessica Garcia because she has been in the ICP program here at Cal State San Marcos for the past two years. I recently have been accepted into the ICP program. By following Jessica I can attain some tips and retweet her tweets whenever I feel that I can relate to them in regards to the ICP program. I am following Lisa Dabbs because she seems to be an encouraging and motivating educator coach and supporter. From reading the tweets on Lisa’s page I had found that a lot of her followers had wrote nothing but kind and thankful praises and words. I find that fellow teachers need this kind of support from a knowledgeable coach and supporter to help them realize that they are making a positive difference in their student’s lives. I chose to follow Steven W. Anderson because some of the Retweets on his page provided useful links to educational Wikis and linked information to social media networks that will help educators to collaborate with school administrators from around the world. I am following Parentella because as a future teacher I can help encourage my student’s parents to collaborate and share ideas and opinions with other parents from across the world. By working together they can share and find tips on how they can help their children study. Also, while reading the Retweets on this page I had found some useful information that I could take into consideration when I am a teacher. Take for instance the Retweet of the link of the ten top reasons why students prefer to learn online, I would most likely take these explanations into consideration once I am a teacher.

      I participated in #ed chat. The topic discussed was, make parents part of the digital citizenship education. They need to learn too! By participating in this ed chat I learned that many parents who at times are considered to be the “unconnected,” find that digital media social networking sites and other means of digital media is a waste of time. I find that children who are over the age of thirteen show their parents how to use some of the digital media tools and social networking sites that we are provided with today, but their parents may say that they do not have time to use it or they simply do not have an interest in learning how to use these social networking tools. On the other hand, I learned a few suggestions on how educators can help their student’s parents become a part of the digital citizenship of education. For instance, at parent teacher conferences or during open house, teachers can suggest to their students parent’s that by creating and signing up for free social networking and collaborative wiki sites, such as; Facebook or Memiary they can communicate and collaborate amongst themselves on these sites.  Also, educators can inform parents that through the use of these digital media tools they can ask questions, they can request for their children’s progress report cards, and by being apart of the digital citizenship of education they are given the opportunity to be an active member in the Twenty First Century, in regards to technology.

My use of Delicious is strictly used for the purpose of networking with people who have an interest in education.  I chose to bookmark the websites, wikis and people on my Delicious network because I find that they will be useful to use in my future classroom. In addition, instead of scrambling to find these people and websites, I can refer back to them in an efficient and organized way. I decided to network with these five people because I find that I can refer to the information that they provide, and I can also leave comments on their pages and collaborate with them on a daily basis. I tagged 5 websites, in which include Wikis, as PLN.  I tagged; Twitter4teachers/Elementary Teachers, Teacher Reboot Camp, Gazette – “50 Web Applications for Teachers,” Bullying Has Little Resonance With Teenagers, and 4^th Grade Steele – Math. Twitter4teachers/Elementary Teachers provides links to K-12 educators on Twitter, (in which is a collaborative social media network site). I chose to tag this site PLN because I find it to be useful and also I will most likely refer to it in my future preparations in designing my lesson plans and curriculum. Teacher Reboot Camp is a digital discussion forum implemented through the use of Twitter. In this digital discussion forum teachers from around the world can work together to discuss strategies to successfully engage students through the use of instructional methods and technology. I chose to tag this site as PLN because whenever I am in doubt or need some ideas and suggestions on how to implement technology and other instructional methods to engage my future students in my lessons I can refer to the provided information that has been shared within the forum. Gazette – “50 Web Applications for Teachers, “consists of a variety of websites ranging from; educational bloggers, digital discussion forums, and educational wikis. I chose to tag this site as PLN because I will most likely be using it to find strategies and web tools to share with my students and to as well as implement some of the provided web applications into lessons and activities. Bullying Has Little Resonance With Teenagers is another digital discussion forum. In this forum one can comment or reply to the authors posts in regards to making connections to a specific topic (in which in this case, the topic is about bullying) that has not been properly addressed. I chose to tag this site as PLN because I believe relevant and self evident topics such as bullying should be addressed in the classroom. By bookmarking this site I can refer to it to help me find some ideas on how to address topics such as bullying so that I can be prepared to answer any questions that my future students may have in regards to such topics. Fourth Grade Steele – Math is an educational wiki. This site consists of many manipulatives and/or activities for children to work on their math,,…and….skills through the implementation of technology. I chose to tag this site as PLN because I can see myself using this wiki in my future classes. While I was exploring through the site I found most of the manipulatives and activities to be up to date and engaging. I find that my students will have fun learning about math through the use of this wiki.  

The digital discussion forum that I joined is a blog post titled, “Losing Quality Teachers (Part 1 and 2).” I learned that half of new U.S. teachers are most likely to quit their profession within the first five years of their employment. The reasons why so many educators are calling it quits is because of the long hours, little pay, and the frustrations that come along with the challenging yet rewarding profession of teaching. However, what I found most interesting in this article is that it mentioned that the increasing numbers of disruptive students who make it difficult for one teach the class as whole is one of the main contributing factors to why these educators are leaving the profession of teaching.

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