Work the Network

   

    When I first learned of a professional learning network, or PLN, I immediately thought “a professional group of people who…” I began to rack my brain with thoughts of people that I have encountered in my life who have had a had substantial influence. Thinking back as I began writing this post, I realized one thing was missing. Those people weren’t personal to me.

    What I mean by that is yes, I know them. Yes, I have known them for the majority of my time here on this planet. But, that relationship wasn’t at all professional or personal. They know me and I know them but we don’t really KNOW each other. The people I originally thought to include in my PLN were people that more than likely would have been in my parents’ PLN. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. They were just people that had a close, personal relationship with my parents rather than myself. So I had to dig a little deeper.

    I am an education major. It just so happens that I married into a family the holds a few educators. One of which is my husband’s cousin. Mrs. D, as her students call her, teaches high school and has for nearly 15 years now (some of her first students are now my coworkers.) Our relationship actually started out on the rocks. She was good friends with my husband’s ex-girlfriend once upon a time…Over the past few years, since I decided to go back to school to become a teacher, she began asking me how things were going, what classes I was currently taking, etc. I didn’t think much of it because those are often questions that are typically asked of a college student. I realized she began dropping little hints and nuggets and It wasn’t until recently that it clicked. This is the type of person I need to include in my PLN.

    Through my education studies and research I’ve learned that a PLN is necessarily just a network of people. It is essentially a network or resources that a learner can gain knowledge from. Believe it or not,  one of those resources for me has been TikTok. I have viewed, liked and shared, so many education TikTok videos that they have completely taken over my “For You Page” (#FYP). Anything from classroom decor, brain breaks, and teacher outfit-of-the-days to classroom management styles and lesson planning, you name it, I’ve taken note of it from watching like little 15-60 second clip. 

    I like to think that a PLN is what you make of it. There’s no limit to the number of resources you can use to your benefit. Be it a person or a social media platform, it’s about taking full advantage of those resources for your greater benefit.