I have joined Classroom 2.0!
I am now officially a member of the Classroom 2.0 community. I have joined a couple of groups of interest related to mathematics classrooms, but things don't seem very active in the groups I joined. Not much recent activity, aside from me joining and posting a couple of comments. I hope this will help me to expand my tool kit of resources to use in a math classroom.
Yes, I am on Twitter! You may follow me @cathomas82. You will probably not see a whole lot of tweets from me. I prefer to use this medium to read what others have to say, as well as find interesting articles.
You can find me on LinkedIn as well, though I do not spend a whole lot of time there. However, as we all know, it's not so much about what you know, but rather, who you know. Feel free to send me a request on LinkedIn!
Though Facebook is not really mentioned as a medium for a Professional Learning Network in this course, this is certainly my primary connection to the digital world and my friends. While I like to keep a small friends list, many of my friends are musicians that I network with, as well as coworkers. I am very comfortable on Facebook, and I love using it to share links and videos related to topics I care about, work related or otherwise.
Reflection on PLN
I will be honest in admitting that I have not used most of these PLNs as much as I should have. While I did not track weekly use, I know I do not have much of a presence or connection on any of these sites, despite regular logins. I believe that just as with many aspects of teaching, personality is an important factor. It is not that I do not want to learn or connect with other educators. As I am just starting out, I find that most of these networks are overwhelming, and I wish to focus on the human resources I have around me, especially when technology is involved. I hope to spend more time this summer building these networks and connecting to other educators. I understand that discussing topics in education and sharing ideas with other educators is invaluable. At this point however, I recognize that between where I am in my career and my own personal preferences in using these sites, I am not reaping the benefits that these networks have to offer. I hope to change that as I continue to grow as an educator.