Skip to main content

What kind of teacher are you? Teacher 2.0

While exploring some Pinterests boards I came across this article: What kind of teacher are you? As a fan of infographics I was naturally intrigued. As I read the descriptions of the different teachers I recognized some, identified with others, and thought about the kind of teacher I want to be.

Knowing my own strengths and weaknesses is important, but building on them and developing new strengths, and working around or above those weaknesses is also important. This is where PLNs come in. PLNs, or Professional Learning Networks for those of you not stuck in the same Alphabet Soup, are communities where like-interested professionals can share ideas. The Educator's PLN is an online social media site that connects teachers to other teachers.

Now if you are an ESOL/ENL/TESOL* professional like myself then you spend all day with other teachers. So why would you want to spend your down time with more teachers? Because if you ARE like me and my school community then you hear the same ideas and the same way of doing things over and over again. Joining a PLN gives you new ideas, new resources, new tools for your toolbox, as well as a diverse collection of educators from all over the world!

Being connected to and sharing ideas with other teachers is an excellent way to do professional development. Not only do you share some great resources but you can also continue to develop your own teaching style.

PLN or no PLN my ideal teacher continues to be Ms. Frizzle.

Image Not Mine
*English to Speakers of Other Languages/ English as a New Language/ Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (sorry for the continued Alphabet Soup)

Comments

  1. Did you end up liking the site? I agree that it is nice to hear other ideas than the ones you hear all day at work/school/wherever you earn your dollars. That's a reason these sites are important. Also, don't forget conference and in-services as a great way to network as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Honestly, I am a part of so many professional organizations and I present at so many conferences that I tend to be PDed-out. I might explore this site more if I wasn't already so invested elsewhere, this would have been great when I first started teaching.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mod 3: An Overabundance of Chalboards: Where are the netizens?

Coming back to teaching in the States has been in some ways very relieving. Youtube isn't blocked. I can access my g-mail. Internet speeds are fast. And I am no longer covered in chalk. If you take a look at the picture you will notice lots of things, but I want to focus on the large green monstrosity in the center of the image. China has one of the largest populations on the planet. It also has some of the most cell phone dependent people I have met in my life. Not a day went by where I didn't witness someone run into something or someone, trip, or fall because of their focus and dedication to whatever was happening on their phone. So how come a country with billions of people and a culture full of dedicated cell phone users has no technology in their classrooms? Now that isn't true of every school or every classroom. The universities I taught in had projectors and occasionally internet access. Training schools are also well equipped. For the most part, however, most o...

Using Blogs in the Classroom to Meet Learning Standards

Mod 2: Joining the Blogosphere It has been more than three years since I taught under the Common Core. Syncing back up has been a concern of mine as I rejoin the NYS K-12 TESOL gig. Not only am I jumping back into the Common Core, I am also jumping into early elementary, something I've not done full time before. Kindergarten and first grade are a bit intimidating but I am looking forward to the challenge. One of the things I have always wanted to do with young learners is to blog and Tweet. Blogging has many benefits. In my opinion, having younger students blog gives them ownership over their learning, something they may not generally have at their level when so much is decided for them. Mrs.Davison is a Kindergarten teacher who is blogging and tweeting with her class. She has some neat ideas about how to use blogs in the classroom. She uses part of her blog to track where visitors are signing on from and has met curriculum goals like geography with her blog. Integrating an...

Filter Bubbles: A Modern Take on Conforming

Ever notice how a lot of the news and advertising you see on Facebook is similar or identical to previous things you have explored. For me this comes in the form of environmentally friendly period products and emotionally driven videos that aim to make you cry, in addition to  more leftest leaning news. Eli Pariser names this phenomenon "filter bubbles". And Facebook isn't the only company using algorithms to enhance your web browsing experience. Yahoo, Google, The New York Times, and Huffington Post all use variations of filter bubbles to provide you with exactly the kinds of things you want to see. Originally Pariser believed an algorithm was responsible for the content shown on your browsers. Facebook did a study to prove that while the algorithm does play a role, it is who you are friends with on Facebook who provide a larger data set for them to use. Facebook has also taken steps to change their algorithm to have less tunnel vision. (See:  Article  Did Facebo...