I am the first to admit, I don’t have all the answers. I have not experienced enough, seen enough, or done enough to know what and how to do all the “things” I want to do. Because of this, I rely on a network of people to help me. I take ideas, resources, and materials from other educators and education professionals.
I feel enabled to use and edit work from my network because I am also willing to give back to the collective so that others can benefit. It’s truly one of the most beautiful things about our digital age in education. If I use something you created, you still have access to it. You can still use it, but so can I. Work can be replicated, improved, changed, and increased, all without losing access. Gone are the days of file cabinets full of our best work. In the “old days,” when you left a position or changed school districts, you either took your work and passion projects with you and left the new person with nothing, or you left it behind requiring you to start over.
I was so fortunate to work with a group of passionate, visionary, and driven professionals. They were steps away from me and I could turn to them in the moment and have instant collaboration. This is the type of collaboration that we often teach in our classrooms. Turn and talk, pair-share, elbow partners. These are all instances of synchronous collaboration. Work grows organically out of these types of discussions as one person often becomes the scribe of the ideas.
I have had the opportunity to replant myself in a new place, both geographically and professionally. I no longer have physical access to my previous co-workers, but it does not mean this collaboration group has to end. Because they shared in the idea of giving and taking, I was able to take copies of all our work product with me to my new position. It wasn’t starting from scratch, but they were not left without that work either.
My group has now entered into asynchronous collaboration. Collaboration that happens without face-to-face time. I work on projects and offer it back to the collective. The other collaborators do the same. I must clarify, this is not divided group work. The work is not segmented, where the members of the group only contribute to their assigned section. This must be the next level of collaboration that we promote to our students.
When I was in the classroom, students would often complain to me that they group work was breaking down because one or more members were not showing up to assigned group work sessions due to work or family conflicts. I know now that I had done little to help them understand how and why they should engage in asynchronous collaboration. I also know now that I was unprepared to help them with this because I had not engaged in it successfully myself. As education professionals, it is difficult for us to teach these skills to our students unless we are proficient ourselves.
The acronym I included in the blog title was “PLN”. What does that stand for? It stands for a “Professional Learning Network.” It is one of the best things educators can do for personal professional development. MindShift has a great article on getting started with your PLN. #learnbps and #innovateSPS are two fantastic Twitter hashtags for schools that are sharing innovative practices.
So please, find a safe space where you feel empowered to find and use resources that meet your educational needs. Create your Twitter account, form a “virtual study group” at your school, join a Schoology discussion forum, start a blog. Just do something to get yourself out there. Your network will grow and you, too, can use and contribute.
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