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Professional Learning Networks- Educational Facebook Groups

 Professional Learning Networks (PLN)

This week I learned about and explored different Professional Learning Networks, PLNs. After viewing the videos Dr. Trust created about the many benefits PLNs have for teachers and students’ learning, I am excited to expand my own PLN. Out of the 4 growth areas Dr. Trust talked about in her videos (affective, social, cognitive, and identity), I identify with cognitive the most. I am always looking online for new resources and tools to use in my classroom to enhance my students’ learning. Oftentimes I follow creators online (most of the time on Instagram and Pinterest), that are either preschool and/or SPED teachers and I save the activities and resources they’ve used in their classrooms, so I can reference them in the future when I’m teaching that activity or subject. I also like to use Instagram and/or Pinterest to test out new ideas, for inspiration, and to learn about new teaching strategies I can integrate in my classroom, because I am always trying to improve as an educator. I also like to watch videos of other teachers’ classrooms when I’m relaxing at home scrolling through my phone, because I like to know what is working well for other teachers and looking to see what I can improve in mine, and sometimes I like to comment on videos or posts and share what I am doing in my classroom that has worked out for me.

Expanding my PLN

Image Source: Screenshot of Seesaw Facebook Group
This week I requested to join several educational Facebook Groups, but so far only one has accepted me. The group that accepted my request was a tool based educational group named Seesaw for Primary Teachers. 
When looking through the facebook group, I remembered that I had attended a couple of Professional Development (PD) workshops on the tool Seesaw during the pandemic, but when we returned to the classroom I forgot about this amazing tool. After looking through the great resources the members of the group offered, I really liked one that I could use in my classroom.
Image Source: Screenshot of Seesaw Facebook Group

Image Source: Screenshot of Seesaw 

The activity is on letter identification, specially with the letter Pp and it's free! You can access it here if you have students working on their letter identification skills. 
Since it's been so long since I last used Seesaw, I had to reset my password, but once I was able to login in to my account I was able to see the activities I had saved. 
Image Source: Screenshot of Seesaw
I plan to re-integrate seesaw into my classroom again this year, because it is a great tool to use with young students, especially because my students love to use the iPad and this is a great resource to reinforce academic skills. I plan to also share this resource with my students' parents to reinforce academic skills at home too. 
I think most educators like myself attend so many great PDs that sometimes we forget to integrate the information we learned after time passes. Has this ever happened to you before? This is what happened to me with the application Seesaw. I remember I used it with my students and their parents during remote learning, but I stopped using it once we returned to the classroom. I think this is a great tool to continue using and I’m glad I was able to join this facebook group because it reminded me of the great free resources I can use to help my students while integrating technology in my classroom. Do you know of other apps and/or tools that can be used to teach and reinforce academic skills for young students? I think this is a great alternative to them just watching youtube videos too. Something valuable that I learned from the facebook group is that I can have the students record themselves either through video or audio, which I can use to progress monitor their IEP goals too. 
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Comments

  1. RfrevilleMarch 22, 2024 at 10:20 AM

    Hi Daniela!
    I loved reading what you wrote about relating to Prof. Trust's cognitive growth. It is great that you use common places such as Instagram and Pinterest to follow fellow creators and teachers to gain perspective on new educational strategies. I am not in the education field, however, working as a curatorial assistant in an art gallery, I spend a lot of time and cognitive energy researching new ways of curating art that is both aesthetically appealing and question-inviting for viewers. Sometimes I feel silly looking at platforms like Tiktok, Instagram, and Pinterest for inspiration, but it is wonderful to hear that other professionals in other fields also take advantage of these sort of PLNs for cognitive growth.

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  2. VDeAlbaMarch 23, 2024 at 12:42 PM

    Hi Daniela, I totally agree with you about going to professional development sessions and then struggling to keep up with everything we learned. It's tough to stick with new tools and techniques when we're juggling so much in our day-to-day teaching.

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  3. WLopezMarch 24, 2024 at 1:06 PM

    Your commitment to discovering new resources and tools online to enrich your students' learning is truly commendable. The way you generously share resources and insights from the Seesaw Facebook group highlights the importance of Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) in offering valuable support and inspiration. With a multitude of apps and tools available for teaching and reinforcing academic skills, exploring various platforms can lead to exciting discoveries. Your proactive involvement with PLNs and dedication to leveraging technology to enhance student learning are both admirable and inspiring.

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  4. Mary LeeMarch 24, 2024 at 1:26 PM

    Daniela, it looks like the Seesaw Facebook group is a great PLN for you! Sometimes I find some PLNs to be a little dormant in my field, so I like how Facebook groups let you see when it was last active. This lets you know that the content/discussion is more up-to-date, as technology is always changing. As for educational tools, I found a lot of great ideas through the STEM tab on Tiktok.

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