My PLN is something I’ve been curating since long before I knew the term for it. It’s a lot of different groups, chats, and friends from different spheres.

The cool thing about being in a smaller discipline is that I was very close with my entire graduating class from Michigan State in my degree. There were fewer than a dozen of us, and only 5 that went on to student teach together, so we knew each other very well. (Hey Lauren Graham)

Getting together twice a week or more our senior year, and each Friday during our internships, was such a valuable time to trade and workshop ideas; share resources; and generally support one another.

It’s been weird to move from that sort of structure to the online environment, where our meet-ups are online and our sharing is down through social media, but it’s no less a valuable experience! I love collaborating and sharing through twitter, instagram, facebook, pinterest, google…so many places.

As a first year teacher, I haven’t submitted all that much to my PLN yet. I’ve been more of a “lurker,” absorbing and learning and trying to get my feet on the ground.

That’s pretty typical of me: I’m often more comfortable listening and absorbing and jotting things down to brew in my mind for the near future: it’s how I’ve always operated in learning environments. However, through the weekly webinars we do here at Michigan Virtual I have felt like I bring something valuable to the table, and I’ve shared what I know–it’s always heartening to feel like I’ve got something helpful others would be interested in!

I’m looking forward to building my expertise and continuing to grow as an educator, and sharing more and more.