Blog Purpose

Professional Learning Network
The acronym PLN stands for Personal Learning Network or Professional Learning Network. PLN is a learning network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment. The learners create connections and develop a network that contributes to their professional development and knowledge.

Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) have been around forever and were originally your family and friends, maybe other educator, or colleagues that one worked with. Today PLNs include tons of different communities such as social networking sites like Facebook, blogs, Twitter, wikis, LinkedIn, and so many more. Anyone that you interact with is a part of your PLN, and today most learning takes place online, and through its simple and accessible network it becomes easy to connect with others of similar interests from around the world.


Teaching Area
I am currently studying Elementary Education at Missouri State University, in Springfield, MO. I hope to someday teach in grades 1-5.
Today, educators and prospective teachers are using their PLNs to:

• Create professional development - learn from content-area specialists
• Locate resources for your classroom, such as free websites and software
• Get lesson plan ideas from master teachers
• Learn about new technology and how to integrate it into your teaching
• Find collaborative solutions
• Find interesting links to education news

Blogging is fun, and the best way to learn is to make learning fun for both students and educators. Through this PLN I hope to achieve ideas for organization in the classroom, tips on classroom management, expanding exposure to technology, creating a mutual learning environment, and create professional development.