I cannot recall a time during which I have been more connected. In compliance with the week's assignment, I have explored edWeb, various Nings, Facebook (from an educator viewpoint this time), Pinterest, and Google +. I am perhaps a little overwhelmed- convinced that all of these social networks are valuable for expanding my PLN and enhancing my abilities in the classroom, but indeed overwhelmed.
Of all of the resources I explored, I chose to focus on Pinterest the most. My friends, colleagues, and classmates give it rave reviews, so if it can be valuable professionally, I'm really doing myself a disservice if I don't give it a try, right? So I'm now a pinner. My degree of comfort with this resource is low, and I've just scratched the surface. I can already tell that 1)I'm going to love it. 2)This could become a HUGE distraction for a girl like me. Enough focus was maintained to explore teaching strategies and activities for diverse learners. After pinning a few short Pixie haircut options and photos of attractive, yet sensible shoes (truth be told), I found Edutopia to be a valuable resource with a board for differentiated instruction. Additionally, K12 and Learning Liftoff had a gifted learners board that showcased great ideas.
Honestly, spending the week exploring so many social networking options (while still learning how to navigate Twitter, Feedly, Hootsuite, and maintaining my old-school connections) has been a sensory overload. I presume that, once I begin to establish a preference for one social
networking tool over another, I'll learn to use it more efficiently and
become more adept. The overload I have experienced this week is certainly due to user inexperience and reluctance to search too narrowly.
Eventually, as an educator I hope to have more of a focus area. When that happens, I would like to visit and participate in one or more Nings regularly. It seems like investing time communicating via a Ning would be beneficial for someone who wants to participate in conversations on a more specific topic, perhaps a welcome alternative to other networking options that offer a larger, less specific smorgasbord of stimuli.
O.K., I am so irritated...I just typed two paragraphs on here, then I went to a different tab momentarily, and I came back and it disappeared! So frustrating :/ Anyway Camille, I love your honesty as always. I am so glad we can be honest on these blogs. I know I am supposed to be saying, Wow, I love Twitter and all the other technology we have been looking into....but I really don't! Now, I have to agree with you that it's probably because I am a newbie and don't really know what I am doing! But, I too feel like I spend a LOT of time looking into new websites, trying to join and remember my passwords...getting frustrated....reading the never ending stream of tweets along with trying to figure out what to tweet...that I feel like I am always on the computer! I need to find a happy medium..but right now trying to work, keep up with the kids, grand baby and doing the work in my classes I just also feel a little overwhelmed!
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
ReplyDeleteSorry that your masterpiece disappeared. Sometimes it's one step forward and two steps back, eh? This has been a week of a larger than usual allotment of screen time since we've been navigating new options for connection. Perhaps it's good that we have at least figured out that too much screen time does not feel fantastic. Once we establish some preferences and learn how to navigate more swiftly I hope we'll find that balance. It sounds like you're doing a great job managing it all- kudos, sister!
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteThat happens to me all the time! Every time I type a comment, I copy it before I hit publish so if it disappears, then I can just paste it and hit publish again.
Camille,
I feel like I am on overload too. My head feels like it is spinning with all this new information. I decided to focus on Pinterest too because I have heard a lot of positive comments on it. In time, I may be open to using more. It is definitely going to take time to be able to figure out which social networks I want to use and which ones I want to get rid of.
I too remember that feeling of being overwhelmed when learning about the growing number of social networks that can enhance my professional growth. My experience tells me that it is simply a necessary step in the learning process. When you are in the midst of overwhelm, that is when you start to prioritize and figure out what is going to work for you. I can see it beginning to happen with all of you. Just remember that going forward, you don’t have to do it all. This course was designed to introduce you to many different collaborative tools and to guide you in creating your own PLN. After enduring and surviving this process, you need to figure out what you can continue to do and when you can do it. For now, embrace those feelings of overwhelm and confusion. They are a clear sign that you are growing as a professional educator! Hang in there!
ReplyDelete