21st Century Administrator PLN
21st Century Administrator PLN
Session Description
Join us to learn about important connections, associations, websites, and other administrators you should be aware of and add to your professional learning network in order to be an effective 21st century administrator. NOTE: This session counts towards TCEA certification credit.
What is a PLN (youtube video) - https://youtu.be/hLLpWqp-owo
Websites
TEA Correspondence
TEA Correspondence entitled "To the Administrator Addressed” are important messages of interest to school districts.
Website: http://tea.texas.gov/taa_letters.aspx
TASB
Created in 1949, the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) is a voluntary, nonprofit, statewide educational association that serves and represents local Texas school districts.
Website: https://www.tasb.org/Home.aspx
Texas ISD
Texas ISD is a one stop news source that any administrator and educator can go to and find all the latest news to keep them on the cutting edge of information as they operate their school.
Website (Technology Page): https://www.texasisd.com/pages/technology-in-education
TCEA Technology Coordinators Special Interest Group
TEC-SIG is the largest SIG and was established in 1989 for the purpose of providing a means of communication between technology coordinators, instructional technology leaders, and other administrators throughout the state.The organization furnishes its members up-to-date information on legislation, happenings within the Texas Education Agency, grants, and TEC SIG activities. TCEA Membership + $20 a year
Website: http://goo.gl/ZgtqBN
Professional Organizations
This site contains a list of professional organizations for K-12 school leaders - http://goo.gl/6kQodc
AASA, American Association of School Administrators (www.aasa.org)
AASL, American Association of School Librarians (www.ala.org/aasl)
ACTFL, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (www.actfl.org)
AECT, Association for Educational Communications and Technology (www.aect.org)
AFT, American Federation of Teachers (www.aft.org)
ASCD, Learn, Teach, Lead (www.ascd.org)
CoSN, Council for School Networking (www.cosn.org)
FETC, Florida Educational Technology Conference, (www.fetc.org)
ISTE, International Society for Technology in Education (www.iste.org)
NAESP, National Association of Elementary School Principals (www.naesp.org)
NASSP, National Association of Secondary School Principals (www.nassp.org)
NEA, National Education Association (www.nea.org)
SETDA, State Educational Technology Directors Association (www.sedta.org)
TCEA, Texas Computer Education Association (www.tcea.org)
USDLA, United States Distance Learning Association (www.usdla.org)
More Professional Organizations - http://goo.gl/udGUi7
Ways To Build Your PLN
PLN Resources
Below are some great resources to get you started in building your PLN. Remember - it is not how many people you follow and gather information from- but the quality of those people. The key word is Personal - make it what you need it to be.
There is no doubt that Twitter is a powerful learning tools to improve your personal learning network. Among educators, most would agree that it is their number one way they build and connect with their PLN.
5 Steps for Using Twitter to Build your PLN
Create Account
Follow Some Hashtags
Use Favorites
Follow Some People and Look and See Whom They are Following
Lurk and Contribute
Examples
In this post, Chris Betcher describes what he got out of tweeting for just 10 minutes - http://goo.gl/sTlBAH
In this post, Edna Sackson describes what she got out of 30 minutes on Twitter one morning - https://goo.gl/0Q02vl
People to Follow
TEC-Sig Twitter List - https://twitter.com/mguhlin/lists/tecsig
Best Individual Tweeter 2014 - http://goo.gl/6uuxCb
Best Individual Tweer 2015 - https://goo.gl/LSKSQw
Hashtags & Chats
Hastags allow you to connect with others easily and effectively. These connections lead to discussions, called chats, on current educational challenges and derive solutions to achieve them. Twitter chats are one of the best ways for educators to connect with other educators, exchange and debate ideas, ask for help, and find new resources.
Twitter Hashtags for Administrators - http://goo.gl/E4IQCB
Twitter Hashtags for School Leaders - http://goo.gl/uWB9aI
Cybraryman's List of Educational Hashtags - http://goo.gl/pdY3
Alan November's List of Educational Hashtags - http://goo.gl/VXrs44
Blogs
Blogs are incredible sources of information that allow educators to reflect, share opinions, and discuss various topics. This is a common medium to discover best practices, examples of innovation, and learn from professional experiences of both novice and veteran educators. Common blogging applications include Blogger, Wordpress, and TypePad.
Sample Blogs
Edutopia - http://www.edutopia.org/
Connected Principal’s Blog - http://connectedprincipals.com/
The Principal of Change -http://georgecouros.ca/blog/
A Principal's Reflection - http://esheninger.blogspot.com/
Educator's PLN - http://edupln.ning.com/
Free Technology for Teachers - http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day - http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/
List of the Top 100 Education Blogs - http://goo.gl/KaOx1
Best Administrator Blogs 2014 - http://goo.gl/U3f4sZ
Best Administrators Blogs 2015 - https://goo.gl/LSKSQw
20 Education Admin Blogs - http://goo.gl/xJ1zdD
Components to making blogs part of your PLN
Read and comment on other people’s blog posts
Publish posts on your own blog to reflect your thoughts, ideas and/or to share resources.
Reading Blog Posts
Ano option to use on to keep up with blogs your subscribe to is to use Flipboard. This pulls all the links shared on Twitter and Blogs into your Flipboard account in a magazine format where you can easily read, share and comment on articles shared by your network. You’ll find detailed step by step instructions on how to set up Flipboard here.
Google+
With Google+ user can create a profile page similar to Facebook, group people in circles and join communities. Check out my presentation on Become a Google+ Wizard for help on how to get started with Google+.
Join the Texas4TEE Google+ Community - https://goo.gl/xzK8fi
Add a comment to this post - https://goo.gl/LZt3pl
Create your own post and share a resource in the community
Voxer
Voxer is a free app that combines the best of voice, text, photo, and video messages with walkie talkies in one messaging app. Easily and instantly communicate and build your PLN.
iTunes Site: https://goo.gl/cizK28
**Join the #tecsigchat on Voxer - https://web.voxer.com/chats/1447191840168_0674843862_8063ed92
More Ways to Connect
Professional networking site that allows educators to connect, exchange ideas, and find opportunities. Educators can join a variety of groups that cater to their individual learning interests and engage in discussions as well as submit, read, and comment on articles. For more information on LinkedIn check out this video.
Social Bookmarking
Method for storing, organizing, and sharing bookmarks online. Popular sites such as Delicious and Diigo allow you to add descriptions as well as categorize each site using tags. Educators can even join groups and receive email updates when new bookmarks are added. For more information on social bookmarking check out this video.
Everyone these days seems to be pinning. This tool is a great way to curate information to satisfy even the most finicky of learning needs. Check out this board just on PLN's.
Social networking site that not only allows people to keep up with family and friends, but also to connect and engage with professionals. The Facebook in Education page provides information on how educators can best use Facebook as a resource. Other groups worth following in order to strengthen a PLN include Edutopia and #EdChat. Each customizable page or group provides a variety of learning opportunities and growth options for educators.
How to Get Started
More on Connecting with Each Other
Turning Off Notifications
You can turn notifications off by chat (tap the gear and turn off notifications for a single chat). If you want to turn them off for the whole app on iOS, go to your Phone Settings and turn off Notifications for Voxer.
Resources
21st Century PLNs for School Leaders - http://goo.gl/NYpwf
Social Media Guide - http://goo.gl/E6Hbbx
What is a PLN - http://goo.gl/xkQZt9
SBEC Principal Competencies - https://goo.gl/O9ZQt5
Connected Principals - http://connectedprincipals.com/
Tools for Building your PLN Livebinders - http://goo.gl/4RsJ5P
Cybrarymans' PLN Resources - http://goo.gl/G1LYZ
Creating PLN's - http://goo.gl/QPZEg
PLN - Resources for Administrators - http://goo.gl/RTue99
A Principal's Reflection - A PLN Quick Start Guide - http://goo.gl/XOBCN
Administrators's Tool Kit - http://goo.gl/76qMY
How to Engage Administrators with Technology - http://goo.gl/aR2DGt
Social Media at your School - http://goo.gl/cYJ5sg
50 Great Ways to Build Your PLN - http://goo.gl/xWqYU
5 Great Tutorials for Building Your PLN - http://goo.gl/btUAy
Information about the #tecsigchat on Voxer - http://goo.gl/xwUi7q