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

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.

Twitter

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

  1. Create Account

  2. Follow Some Hashtags

  3. Use Favorites

  4. Follow Some People and Look and See Whom They are Following

  5. 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

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.

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

Components to making blogs part of your PLN

  1. Read and comment on other people’s blog posts

  2. 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+.

  1. Join the Texas4TEE Google+ Community - https://goo.gl/xzK8fi

  2. Add a comment to this post - https://goo.gl/LZt3pl

  3. 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

LinkedIn

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.

Pinterest

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.

Facebook

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

    1. Get the Voxer app for your mobile device (probably, your iPhone or Android but it works on computers, too)

    2. Join a group or chat on Voxer

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

Information about the #tecsigchat on Voxer - http://goo.gl/xwUi7q