Power of the PLN

Not too long ago, I sat and watched a friend in Kansas connect with my friends in Montgomery, TX. As I was sitting there I started to reflect on the importance of connecting with others. The importance of knowing that we aren't the experts at everything and that reaching out for guidance and inspiration is more about growth than it is about deficit.

It took me a while, as an educator, to come to this realization. To completely understand the Power of the PLN.

What is a PLN? To me, a PLN is a group of professionals that thrive on the concept of "sharing is caring." The more that I think about the term PLN, it makes me think of a Kindergarten classroom or any classroom for that matter. When learners first enter elementary school, what is one of the first things that we teach them to do? Share. We foster a learning environment that encourages and inspires students to collaborate, share, and bounce ideas off one another. Isn't that exactly what a PLN is to us today as lead learners? So why, as educators, is it sometimes so hard for us to ask for help? Why does that fear sometimes win?

I didn't realize the power of connectivity until about 3 years ago, when I finally decided to start a classroom Twitter account.  I was inspired by Kayla Delzer, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions that I have ever made as an educator-the decision to make my classroom more than the four walls that contained it. During that school year and the next, my kids connected with Ryan Davidson, a meteorologist from the weather channel (check out his story here), a Martian soil expert from Kansas (check out her story here), a college professor and her students from South Carolina, and so many more. Little did I know that meeting this college professor would mean so much to me and my profession!

Dr. Julie P. Jones was one of the first educators that I met on Twitter, and it was all because we (my 4th grade classroom) thanked her for being our 200th follower. She quickly responded, but not just with a "thank you". She sent my kids some challenges about #make200. It was one of the first instances where I recognized the power that Twitter had, especially for my kids.  Dr. Julie P. Jones is a professor at Converse College in South Carolina, and she works with educator prep students. Because of our initial connection, our classes soon connected for other reasons! My 4th grade students visited with her college age students about classroom management, technology tools, and classroom jobs. They loved being able to voice their thoughts about the classroom and education with future teachers.

A year later, we finally met in real life! We presented about Twitter at a conference in Orlando, FL called ATE about the magic that is social media.  It was such a surreal experience to meet one of my Twitter heroes!! 

Even from afar, her and so many others like Jed Dearybury, Marialice Curran, Matt Murrie, and Jaime Donally support me and lift me up from various corners of our world.

I am forever blessed to know and love my PLN, and I have Twitter to thank for 

that!

My advice to you: Get on Twitter and grow your PLN!  You will not regret it! 

Some of my other favorite things:

1. Vedchat

2. #SingaSong

3. #PasstheScopeEDU

This is also a featured blog post for Hoonuit (Atomic Learning).

Student Creation with Buncee

Have you heard of Buncee?  It is a game changer, for sure!  I found out about Buncee this past Summer, and haven't looked back since!  Buncee is "a creation and presentation tool for students and educators to create interactive classroom content, allowing learners of all ages to visualize concepts and communicate creatively." (Buncee)

This past Summer, I created a book club for Matt Murrie's book, The Book of What If.  We used Voxer and Twitter as our discussion area, and members were encouraged to use Buncee to reflect on the chapters read.  Speaking of game changers, you have to read his book!! It is awesome! Here is the first Buncee that I ever created:

I loved reading this book with my then 4-year old niece, Nancy!  The questions are thought provoking and inspire curiosity at every turn.

What if There Were Never Books?

I loved creating this Buncee after reflecting on that question with Nancy.  Check out another one of my blog posts to see what she had to say about "What if Dinosaurs Still Existed".

I was inspired to keep creating with Buncee and exploring more of their tools!  I started to use Buncee to create graphics for events such as #PasstheScopeEDU and #EdChangeGlobal, and to spread the word about presentations that I was leading at upcoming educational conferences.  I would then share these graphics on social media to spread the word and to draw attention to this awesome tool.  Here are some examples:

The animations are awesome!!

Every graphic that you see above was found in their library!  And it updates frequently!

Like I said, the animations are awesome!

Buncee is a great tool to use in the classroom!  Students love to create, and this gives them an outlet to do so!  Students crave other ways to express themselves versus the traditional paper and pencil.  Check out this blog post about how one teacher ignited creativity in her students with an introduction to Buncee!  It was because of that introduction, that her students began to showcase their voice and creativity through the use of it.  Wow factor!!

There are endless possibilities with Buncee, and I encourage you to check it out! The video below is a great tutorial for beginners.  If you have any questions about Buncee or need any guidance, please feel free to contact me!

#WhatIf I Can't Wait to Blog About What If!

This past summer, I read a book that quickly became one of my favorite books that I have ever read, The Book of What If by Matt Murrie and Andrew McHugh. This book is full of activities and questions for curious readers of ANY age!  A group of us decided to start a What If Book Study in Voxer over the summer after being inspired by the wonderful Marialice Curran, and it was awesome!  We were able to share and converse about all things "What If"!  Matt Murrie even joined in on the conversation! I especially loved reading the book when I was with my niece, Nancy.  One of the first questions that I asked her from the book was "What If Dinosaurs Never Went Extinct?". She thought about it for a little bit, and then the curiosity conversation began! We decided to share her thoughts on that topic by including her in the Voxer chat!  We added her thoughts first, and then the author, Matt Murrie, asked her another question as well as my friend, Jennifer Griffin, about what they should eat to keep the dinosaurs away!.  Check out the dialogue below! 

She loved being involved, and couldn't wait for the next What If question! Another question I gave her was "What If There Were No Books?"  This question bothered her a bit!  I used her response as inspiration to create the Buncee below! I love using Buncee for creation, and used it throughout the book study to design and illustrate my curiosity!!

The point of sharing all of this with you is to paint a picture of pure curiosity! George Couros recently posted about the topic of What If, and included this question:

What if schools always focused on the notion that we should all be “learners” as opposed to “students”?

This question made me think about a part in his book, The Innovator's Mindset, that said, "Kids walk into schools full of wonder and questions, yet we often ask them to save their questions for later, so we can "get through" the curriculum." What a powerful statement! Why are we not embracing a kid's wonder and curiosity each and every day! These are the types of conversations that I want to be a part of with my kids! Please don't let them leave school less curious than when they started! 

This past week, all of the elementary schools in Montgomery ISD started a "What If of the Week" based on and with the support of Matt's book. At the beginning of each week, the What If is announced on the morning announcements and also shared on social media.  We are encouraging students and teachers to share their thoughts in any way that they choose throughout the week on social media!  Check out some of the #MISDWhatIf Week 1 posts below! 

We all make a choice as educators on how we choose to impact the life of a child.  This child is someone's entire world, and our job is an important one. In the words of my buddy, Kayla Delzer, "If it's right for kids, it's right." Words to teach and learn by!