1. PROFESSIONAL LEARNING NETWORK building connections in education

2. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2013 My professional learning network (PLN) began with a Twitter account focused on connecting with educational professionals and mathematicians

3. CONNECTING The Alberta Teachers Association (@albertateachers) By following the ATA, I will be able to stay informed about the issues affecting my profession and stay current with upcoming changes or developments in my practicing province

4. CONNECTING Canadas Ed Chat (@cdnedchat) By following Canadas Ed Chat, I can engage with teachers throughout the country about topics relating to the state of education in Canada, as well as how new developments outside of Canada could impact our education system and pedagogy

5. CONNECTING Mathematics Teacher (@MT_at_NCTM) By following the Mathematics Teacher, I can find resources for mathematical instruction at the secondary level, and engage in conversation and collaboration with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in the US

6. CONNECTING Mathalicious (@Mathalicious) By following Mathalicious, I can access lesson plans and activities for mathematics classrooms that provide authentic learning experiences for students, broadening my resource base

7. CONTRIBUTING Thus far, I have contributed to my PLN by sharing resources and communicating original ideas For example, I have shared relevant and exciting articles related to the fields of mathematics and education:

8. COLLABORATING Although I have not yet participated in chats or discussions using my Twitter page, I have collaborated with colleagues in creating lesson plans using Google Docs

9. ADVANTAGES OF PLN My PLN has allowed me to connect with a diverse group of educational professionals. Just today, I found this image describing SAMR in easy-to-understand terms (tweeted by @edtechseth)

10. DEVELOPMENT GOALS I have structured my PLN such that it can be used effectively as I leave my role of student and enter my role as teacher I have linked my ePortfolio page with my Twitter and podOmatic accounts so that my PLN connects all of my resources directly to me, and so that others in my network have access to all of my resources regardless of the mode by which our connection was initiated I envision my PLN being a collaborative network that encompasses Twitter, WordPress, Edm odo, and podOmatic, rather than primarily based on Twitter

11. DEVELOPMENT GOALS I have created categories and tags on my ePortfolio page so that others in my network can easily find resources or ideas they are interested in and to make my page easier to navigate I intend to re-organize my pages to reflect static topics and discussions For example, I will add my resume and examples of lessons and projects I have completed to my ePortfolio I will continue to use posts as the main mechanism for sharing resources and ideas on educational concepts

12. DEVELOPMENT GOALS One of my general goals in developing my PLN is to increase my collaboration with others continue to share resources through Twitter and my ePortfolio finally participate in #edchat, and other relevant discussions on Twitter, rather than lurking

13. REFLECTION Developing my PLN has been personally and professionally rewarding. I have gained access to many new resources and been able to share in experiences of other teachers. This has given me more confidence in my own teaching and my ability to adapt to new teaching environments I am excited that my PLN has been structured such that I can use and share new technologies while reflecting on their potential in the classroom I look forward to collaborating with teachers and other educational professionals as I move through my education career