My Personal Learning Network

Learning is based on interactions and sharing, conversation and participation. Teacher Librarian Paige Bredenkamp states,"Knowledge is the result of interactions and experiences through connected networks in a community." (Professional Learning Communities for Librarians). It is no longer widely viewed as a solitary endeavor, although it happens best when it is self-directed. I am able to develop my own skills, pedagogy and professional development back in my own library/classroom and environment, but I am certain this professional development will not happen independent of others. I will talk about some of the strategies, tools, resources and networks I presently use and some which I would like to use to maintain professional explorations and development.

Currently in my job and for this class, I employ a number of strategies to explore ideas and to build professional capacity.  I interact with resources such as the "Education" and "Learning Resource Center" pages of my school district portal.  I frequently email or call our Learning Resource Center's director and other teacher librarians in the area. I also frequently meet with the director of The Fernie Heritage Library.  I continue to work with one of our district's "Teachers of Transformative Learning" to gain technology skills and to plan projects with classroom teachers.  I use personal connections with colleagues who are adept at integrating technology in their classrooms.  I access reference books, read web pages (such as the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange and Class Tech Tips), read blogs (such as The Cool Cat Teacher, The Blue Skunk Blog, and LIBE 477 peer blogs through Feedly), and read text books (such as The Collection Program in Schools-Concepts and Practices).  I use Pintrest to collect ideas for bulletin boards or  library displays, watch YouTube videos to learn more about specific topics (Do Online Discussion Boards Increase the Quality of Students’Discussions? or Developing Your Personal Learning Network), and find articles using our on-line data-bases through the Learning Resource Center (Ebsco Host, Learn 360, and many more). I attend professional development days and am soon to be part of a professional learning community in our district for teacher librarians. Finally, my students and children teach me about new technology and help to generate new ideas almost daily.

from Opencolleges.edu.au

Through my research this week, I have learned about some amazing podcasts (TL Talk Radio: Leading Teaching and Learning, 10 Min Teacher Show, Wired Educator, and Cult of Pedagogy), more excellent websites (Teachers First) and a newsletter I would like to subscribe to (Class Tech Tips Newsletter). Although I have a profile on Linkedin, until this week I have never thought of it as a useful way to collect professional contacts for my professional learning.  In a YouTube video I watched entitled, "Professional Learning Networks for Librarians," Thomas Ivie talks about the potential professional teacher librarian networks have for project collaborations and to possibly attain grant monies when a larger project is too much for a single library to undertake on its own.  He and Paige Bredencamp also talk about attending library conferences and building connections through conversations and handing out business cards. My research also lead me to a lot of good advice about setting up and maintaining a personal learning network (Twenty Tips for Creating a Professional Learning Network). These are many great ideas I intend to try. 

Now that I am on my way with building my own strategies, tools, resources and networks for learning, I can see that my role as a teacher librarian will also entail helping both teachers and students to build their own professional learning networks. 

Works Cited

"Common Sense Education Resources for Teachers." Common Sense Education.  Commonsense.org. 

          Web. Accessed 29 September 2018.

“Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange: We Support Libraries.” Central Minnesota Libraries

Exchange. 2015. Web. Accessed 29 September 2018.

Clifford, Miriam. “20 Tips for Creating a Professional Learning Network.” Web blog post.

Opencolleges.edu.au, 3 Jan 2013. Web.  Accessed 12 October 2018.

Cory, Kelley.  Wired Educator.  Audio blog program.  Wirededucator.com, 2018. Web. Accessed

13 October 2018.

Davis, Victoria. 10 Min Teacher Show. Audio blog program. Coolcatteacher.com, 2018. Web.

Accessed 13 October 2018.

Davis, Victoria.  “The Cool Cat Teacher Blog.” Web blog post. Coolcatteacher.com, 2018. Web.  

Accessed 10 October 2018.

Dr. Burns, Monica. "Class Tech Tips Newsletter." Class Tech Tips. Classtechtips.com. 2018.

Web. Accessed 13 October 2018.

Feedly.  RSS Feed. Feedly.com, 2018. Web.

Froehler, Kim (Teacher of Transformative Learning, SD5). "Using the Portal and Creating  

          Classroom Small Online Discussion Groups in the Classroom." Interview by Karla Germaine, 

           September 2018. 

Gonzalez, Jennifer. Cult of Pedagogy. Audio blog program. Cultofpedagogy.com, 2018. Web.

              Accessed 13 October 2018.

Ivie, Thomas: Research & Statistics Librarian at Wyoming State Library. Linkedin.com, 2018.

Web. Accessed 13 October 2018.  

  

Johnson, Doug. “Blue Skunk Blog: Leaving Readers Confused at a Higher Level Since 2005.”

Web blog post. Squarespace.com, 2018. Web.  Accessed 10 October 2018.

Linkedin. Linkedin.com, 2018. Web.

Literacy Teachers. “Do Online Discussion Boards Increase the Quality of Students’

Discussions?” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube. 20 May 2018. Web. Accessed 20 September 2018. 

Lloyd, Harmony (Fernie Secondary Technology Teacher).  "Using Blogs in the

Classroom." Interviewed by Karla Germaine, September 2018. 

Mardis, Marcia A. 2016. The Collection Program in Schools-Concepts and Practices, 

           6^th Edition. Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited.

NRC DLMT. “Developing Your Personal Learning Network.” Online video clip. YouTube.

YouTube. 14 January 2017. Web. Accessed 12 October 2018.

“Paige Bredenkamp Joins the Wyoming State Library as Its School Library Consultant.” Wyoming

State Library. Library.wyo.gov. 12 October 2015. Web. Accessed 13 October 2018.

Pintrest. Pintrest.ca, 2018. Web.

School District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay).  “Education.” Sd5.bc.ca.  Web. Accessed 10

October 2018. 

School District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay).  “District Resource Center.”  Sd5.bc.ca.  Web.

Accessed 10 October 2018. 

Teachers First: Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinking. Teachersfirst.com, 2018.  Web. Accessed

12 October 2018.

TL Talk Radio: Leading Teaching and Learning. Audio blog program. Tltalkradio.org, 2018. Web.

Accessed 13 October 2018.

Wyoming State Library. “Professional Learning Networks for Teacher Librarians.” Online video

clip of Power Point Presentation with Audio. YouTube. YouTube. 20 July 2017. Web. Accessed 12 October 2018.