grooooW WITH ME

     PLN's (personal learning network) is not a thing, it is an idea. The question is how do you get this idea started, and keep it going? A PLN can be as simple as having a cup of coffee with a college and sharing ideas or it could be as expanded as Skyping with a teacher in Alaska about an upcoming collaboration, and sharing that on a VLOG.  
     For me all of this sounds overwhelming but I plan to take it in small bites. First I want to i.d. my overall goal is to connect with other, what I like to call "Urban Music Educators" and create a network where we can discuss common concerns in the classroom and how we can move forward together to solve each others problems creatively. 
     Writing this BLOG is a good step, but joining teacherlinx is an even better one. The screen shot thing is not cooperating with me so, http://teacherlinx.com/#/regsuccess.  The next idea to get started is the join Twitter and watch Twits and hashtags, and selectively follow educators who have similar teaching lifestyles as I do. This graphic of how to grow your PLN really helped me get a better understanding about the process.  

     I plan to sustain my PLN by weeding out followers on Twitter until I have a compatible group of educators with similar educational interests. With the group of Urban Music Teachers, creating a collaborative and creative group using Twitter, Skype, and Podcasts I intend to harvest results from the group to use in my classroom and share with others. This cycle should be re-visited at least 3-4 times a year to create a new crop of PLN's and ideas.