Unlike my outside plants that are dying from lack of water, my professional learning network (PLN) is healthy and growing. I have been nurturing my PLN this summer. I joined a group of teachers from around the states discussing writing about reading. We started a Voxer group.
I am totally new to Voxer. It’s novel and fun. Voxer is a phone app that acts like a text message or walkie-talkie. Within the conversation, you can leave a voice or text message. I love hearing the voices of my friends as we ruminate about the process of writing about reading. Now that school has started I am able to use this group to bounce ideas off of and to ask for help and guidance.
This week one of my students wrote about the book he was reading. I wasn’t familiar with the book, so I just sent a message in the Voxer group asking for help in analyzing his reader response. The help came immediately and we used Google docs to communicate further about the writing. How cool is that?
With another group, we’ve started a conversation about student blogging. We met yesterday by Google hangout. We are planning to connect students throughout the year using kidblogs. The connections are still in the planning stage. If you’d like to connect your middle grade kids (grades 4th-6th), let me know.
My PLN is becoming a group of friends. I can call on them with any kind of situation with my students. Last week I received many messages of support and love about the death of a former student. This meant so much to me. Kevin Hodgson responded with a poem. He posted this on Twitter.
My digital world is healthy and alive. We are working together to make positive choices about our work with kids. Julianne Harmatz is the pro who can connect you with our Voxer conversations. The Twitter hashtag is #WabtR. This is not a closed community. We are open to new friends, new ideas, and new connections.
If you have a digital literacy post, please link below.
Oh how I miss you and Kevin and Michelle! I am coming back. Taking that gifted job and it’s grades three through eight so I feel like I have so much more to connect with you about.
I’m so glad you decided to take the gifted job. I look forward to connecting with you this year. Will your students be blogging? I’d love to match up some kids to write together and possibly respond to a common novel. So many ways to consider connecting.
So wonderful to hear about these connections about teaching, and about life, too, Margaret. I’m connecting today with a Picasa movie, maybe the final bit about “my ocean life”!
[…] Every Sunday, Margaret Simon hosts a Digital Literacy link up. I always read, but I don’t always contribute. This weekend, I’m pushing myself to reflect on my practice with a digital literacy lens. I encourage you to do the same and link your post here. […]
What a beautiful poem Kevin wrote. What I love about the various modes of technology connection is that it allows for all kinds of contributors. Great connecting with you yesterday!
“What if more classrooms were habitats of where wonder thrives.” Powerful thought from the video you have posted today.
Margaret, PLNs are powerful collaborative groups that push our thinking further. I thank you for giving me a new title for my creations, digitalized inspirations. I like that. Give, receive, expand thinking are active verbs that describe my PLN. Maybe we should revive the GHO group that you and Kimberly and I were in. What a great conversations we had.
So sorry I missed out on the conversation on Saturday afternoon! I still need to discover Voxer. I’d love to be connected with the conversation on student blogging, so I’ll figure it out. 🙂