15-Year-Old explains the key to developing a #PLN

Alex Laubscher and mentor Mike King at MoCCA Fest

Alex Laubscher is a cartoonist who I met this year when his mother brought him to New York City for MoCCA Fest which is an art festival for illustrators. By the age of 15 Alex developed an extensive network of others who share his love for the zine culture and illustrating.  Alex connected and developed relationships with some of the leaders in his field via Instagram. 

Laubscher has learned to produce and sell his own self-created zines.  He has learned everything he knows about his craft not through school, not through his parents or family, but via the learning network he has created for himself. He has asked for and received some terrific support in this work through his school, but for the most part school has gotten in the way of his success. His parents have been supportive of his endeavors, but by no means are they ones guiding him in this journey. Rather they are their to support him in doing their best to ensure he is safely and happily able to pursue his passion.  

In the following interview, Alex explains his tips for success in creating a professional learning network.  

Teen explains the power of a student PLN

Guest post by Connor Wood

I had never heard of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) before Lisa Nielsen asked me to write about mine. I did not originally set out to make a PLN. It just sort of happened as I started asking around for interviews for my education blog, Trismegistus Nab-tu-we. I also contacted author  Henry Olsen and entrepreneur William Peregoy. They were both helpful in giving me the tools and ideas I needed to start my blog and autodidactism. There are a couple of other student groups I have turned to for advice including Students for Education Reform and The Providence Student Union.

I have a little secret. Aside from my blog, the only social networking site I belong to is Google+ which is only because of my blog. I use Google+ for major posts, but not much besides that. I guess I am kind of old school in using my email for most of my networking. When I started going around looking for people to interview, I used only email. This allowed me to connect to progressive educators and reform activists like John Robinson, James Bach, Lisa Nielsen, and Jerry Mintz, all of whom have been extremely helpful in networking ideas and suggestions. Jerry and Lisa, for example, both recommended I get in touch with Nikhil Goyal. Additional help in getting my voice heard has come from Diane Ravitch and Mercedes Schneider. Lisa too has helped me a lot. Allowing me to contribute this guest post is an example of that.

#NYEdTech Meetup Tonight at 7pm on Teacher #PLNs w/ @InnovativeEdu & @mr_casal

What are the most successful teachers doing differently? How is that experienced being shared, and how can new teachers best learn from those that have come before them? Teachers are progressively forming broader and richer professional learning networks that extend far beyond their schools boundaries in many cases.  

Innovative New York City educator Chris Casal (@mr_casal) and I (@InnovativeEdu) will dig in to how personal learning networks or PLNs are formed and what is exchanged by impactful educators as part of the NYEDTech meetup TONIGHT from 7 - 9 p.m. in Manhattan.

If you're in the area, it's not to late to join us. 

Details at http://www.meetup.com/NYEdTech/events/160696002

If you're not in the area, don't despair. You can still follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #EdTechNYC and/or watch the live streamed broadcast below once it begins.

Educator Ann S. Michaelsen explains the power of student PLNs

While it is no longer unusual for teachers to embrace and understand the value of personal learning networks, few are supporting their students in doing the same. I went on a search for educators involved in this work as part of a chapter I am writing for a book on the topic of student liberation being released by Steve Hargadon later this year,  In the below Q&A you will get a look at the insights from one of these educators.  

As you read what this teacher is doing consider how you might integrate such practices into your work.  If you are already doing this, please share what you are doing in the comments. 

Being a connected educator has helped me grow my BaMMily tree

Tonight I will have the honor of being recognized as a Bammy award finalist for my work as an education commentator along with recognition for being a top 100 influential voice in education for my work as a connected educator.

The first thing you should know is that you can tune in live tonight! The event takes place Sat Sep 21, 2013 7:30pm EDT — Sat Sep 21, 2013 9:30pm EDT At that time, hop right over to http://www.bammyawards.com/index.php/bammy-awaards-live where you will have a chance to see educators being recognized for their ed celeb status ;)

As a Bammy Finalist I was asked to put together a short two-minute video outlining what being a connected educator has meant to me.  Below is the video.

 

After watching the video I'd love to hear in the comments who has become members of the network that you have grown. How have they positively contributed to your practice? How would you convince a not-yet-connected educator that it is important to become connected? How would you convince your supervisor?  

10 Innovative Ideas To Provide Time for Professional Development and Collaborative Learning

Finding time for teachers to meet and learn together is often very difficult, but a resourceful school team can utilize creative ideas that have worked well in other schools.  It is important to put these structures in place early in the year.

Here are some ideas for providing time for educators to learn together.

1. Provide teachers on a particular grade level or who teach a common subject with a shared prep so they can plan and study together.
2. Invite teachers to determine how their shared preps can be used for any study group they can imagine.
3. Organize some regular large group activities for children.  Some schools have a weekly K-2 sing-along run by the music teacher on Friday mornings, allowing K-2 teachers to meet in a weekly study group.  On Friday afternoons, an activity for the upper grades could be planned.  Other schools organize large group gym activities, like Olympics or Field Days, run by the gym teachers and educational assistants.
   

How strong is your personal learning network? Take this quiz to find out.

I've written about developing a personal learning network many times on The Innovative Educator.  This updated infographic was created as a tool to promote an interactive conversation about developing PLNs. Each dot has an action and a question to answer.

Click the dots and let me know what you think?  Is this something you might use?  Is there anything you might change or revise?



Where do you fit in?  Take the quiz below to find out.  You can see the quiz as a full page here.


Share your results. Text below or visit this link.

See how others did here.

Solution to combatting lonely, isolated educators: #PLN

Feelings of isolation occur with some regularity among educators, especially those who teach in specialty areas and/or small schools. Teachers spend much of their day separated from peers in classrooms that can become silos. However, technology is providing new ways for teachers to connect with peers both near and far. In this show, listeners are invited to join BAM radio's Rae Pica for a discussion about overcoming isolation by builidng a personal learning network.

Joining Pica are four innovative educators who walk listeners through the process of getting connected. They are:

• Rob Mancabelli is co-author of Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education.
• Nicholas Provenzano is a high school English teacher who is passionate about integrating technology into the classroom.
• Erin Klein is a second grade teacher who has her Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction and is the technology co-chairperson for the Michigan Reading Association.
• Lisa Nielsen (that's me!) is a seasoned public school educator and administrator and author of the book Teaching Generation Text

 You can listen to the program on the BAM radio site here!

5 Cs to developing your personal learning network #PLN

Thinglink is a cool tool that brings ideas into a nice visual graphic. Check out this one based on my article, "The 5 Cs to developing your personal learning network."

If you think a personal learning network is an echo chamber you’ve missed the point.

High school math teacher Crystal Kirch used her blog to ask for help with her biggest struggle this year:

"My students don't know how to learn.  They don't know how to succeed.  And, it doesn't seem like they care to change any of that. "

After reading about her struggle, some innovative educators and parents disagreed with her view toward students and took the time to respectfully disagree with Ms. Kirch. Unfortunately, Ms. Kirch censored all those who did not see things her way. On Twitter she thanked everyone for all their love in reaction to her post...even though she knew the truth was that there were people who did not love what she shared.  

Ms. Kirch was directly confronted about her practice of silencing those who didn’t share her views on Twitter and in the blogosphere. She ignored that. As she published comments that expressed the sentiment “Way to go”! “Atta girl!” and “Chin up!” it became clear that her views were to be loved, not pushed or challenged. When they were, she reacted by hiding and disabling comments and added a disclaimer to her post admonishing those with comments that did not support her position calling them “intense attacks.” She then wrote a post praising herself as someone who among other things cares more than she should (Yikes!). She also explained that her public blog was solely for her Personal Learning Network (PLN) which defines as only those who agree with her views. She also decided for her readers that her direct quote about her biggest challenge (above) was taken out of context and she was under attack.

But here’s the thing...

Building your personal learning network infographic

Well this is pretty cool.  The folks over at the ThingLink and Learn blog used the image tagging technology provided by ThingLink to create this embeddable info graphic to share my ideas about developing your personal learning network.  Check it out by mousing over the image on small dots.

The 5 Cs to Developing Your Personal Learning Network

In the 21st century teachers are no longer the sole imparters of information.  Instead their role shifts to empowering students to learn independently in part by developing personal learning networks in areas of passions, talents, and interests.  Not only are these real-world connections valuable, they enable learning to move from the preparation for life to the living of life by providing individuals with access to learners, leaders and experts around the world bringing together communities, resources and information impossible to access solely from within school walls.


The five Cs below will empower educators to discover how they and their students can begin building personal learning networks specific to the learner’s needs extending relevant learning connections to like-interested people around the globe. 

10 Ways Technology Supports 21st Century Learners in Being Self Directed

Life in the 21st century provides a whole-new world of opportunities for self-directed, passion-driven, personalized learning.  Educators who are ready to move on from teaching the way they were taught, and administrators who will let them, can begin supporting students using tools and strategies available to the 21st century learner. 

1. Personal Learning Networks
   Perhaps the core of passion driven, self-directed learning is the development of personal learning networks which can be developed through blogs, social networks like Facebook, Ning, or Group.ly, Twitter, and discussion boards.  Read 5 Things You Can Do to Begin Developing Your Personal Learning Network, The PLN Matures. The Progression of the 21st Century Personal Learning Network and 5 Ways to Build Your 1.0 and 2.0 Personal Learning Network to learn how to get started.
2. Tweet to Connect with Experts
   If you have an interest, Twitter is the place to connect with others who share that interest.  Simply do a search on Twitter for the topic and you’ll be connected to a many others interested in the same topic. Follow them. Reply to them. Use the search term in your Tweets and others interested in that topic will see your Tweet.  Students can even have their own newspapers created instantly about their topic of interest using a service called Paper.li.   
3. Skype an Expert
   You can make your classroom a global communication center for free with Skype by connecting with anyone around the world about topics of interests.  These experts may be people you have conversations with or perhaps they are people you learn from.  Author, blogevangelist, teacher, thought leader and father, Will Richarson uses Skype to supplement his children’s learning. Paul Bogush, an 8th grade social studies teacher not only supports his students in doing this, they take it up a notch with a program they produce called Lunchtime Leaders.  Students interview leaders from around the world on their opinions about what they should do to be prepared for the future. Paul and his students do most of their interviews using Skype and they turn the interviews into Podcast. You can listen to their podcasts at http://lunchtimeleaders.podbean.com.  where students choose to interview experts in topics they are interested in and then turn their interview into a podcast.  
4. Free Online Educational Resources
   Learn about whatever you want with free online education resources (OER).  The purpose of this coordinated movement is to move toward a common goal of providing quality courses for learning for free. “At the heart of the movement toward Open Educational Resources is the simple and powerful idea that the world’s knowledge is a public good and that technology in general, and the Worldwide Web in particular, provide an extraordinary opportunity for everyone to share, use, and re-use knowledge.” – The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Many of these resources do not require a teacher for students to learn.  
5. Online Learning
   When given the choice, students often say they LOVE learning online and not just because it lets them sleep in.  They find that they are exposed to many more possible courses in alignment with areas of interest and moving at their own pace without distractions of classmates enables them to learn more effectively.  Many public schools, universities, and colleges are starting to jump on board and companies like Zulama.com are popping up which offer High-interest online courses students can’t find at their high school. Access to unique subjects they’re passionate about makes Zulama a place teenagers want to go to learn. With Zulama, students connect, teachers simplify, parents stay involved, and schools get ahead.
6. Authentic Publishing In the 21st century, irrelevant hand-it-in teaching should be a thing of the past.  If a student’s work has no authentic audience beyond the teacher, it shouldn’t be assigned.  A student who is self-motivated to do something, counts, btw.  A teacher directing him/her to do it does not.  Most 21st century kids love to share with real audiences and are doing it outside school already.  Inside school, work should not sit lifeless on a computer, or even just the school website.  Support students in finding real audiences for their work in their Global Community.  If you’re not sure how find out by reading, “21st Century Educators Don’t Say, “Hand It In.” They say, “Publish It!”
7. Use YouTube and iTunes to Learn Anything It’s rather outrageous that many schools still block one of the most powerful tools for learning available for students today. YouTube.  While iTunes is a powerful option for learners on the go, YouTube adds the visual element, making learning even more powerful and FREE!  With YouTube Education and iTunes University, more and more colleges, universities, and their professors are sharing content for free.  While some schools are paying for pre-packaged online learning options, they’re really all already out there for free.  Empower teachers and/or students to design their own learning and learn about whatever they want with these free resources.  Not only are these good resources to go to learn from others, they’re also a smart place to ask for help like this student did who needed help with his bowdrill set.  
8. Passion (or talent) Profiles
   When we start collecting profiles of students passions, talents, interests, abilities and learning styles, suddenly students and teachers have an awareness that they may never have considered previously. A passion (or talent) profile is not only value for teachers and student self-awareness, it is also a helpful tool for students to connect with others who might share a passion.  These students could connect on a topic of interest, collaborate, and share ideas.  These profiles can be purchased using a company like Renzulli learning or they can be made for free with Google Forms and Spreadsheets.  Either way, it’s much easier to differentiate instruction when teachers and students can quickly and easily see where they stand and sort by interest, learning style, talents, or abilities.  
9. Develop Authentic Learning Portfolios
   When done write ePortfolios can be a powerful tool that not only helps remind students of all their accomplishments, but it also enables them to share these with the world.  In the 21st century, creating an ePortfolio is free and easy.  Student simply select a container (blog, wiki, website, Google site), decide how they’d like to organize it, and then post their work.  I strongly advise against using any paid for portfolio site.  It is important that students have ownership of their own work and that it can travel with them wherever they are.  When it comes to ePortfolios, Helen Barrett is the go-to person.  To learn more, visit her blog http://blog.helenbarrett.org where she shares fantastic ideas.  
10. Empower Students to Assess and Learn Themselves
    The days of teacher as gatekeeper of the answer key or teacher edition are gone!  Educators need to stop hiding and start sharing information with students including enabling them to learn how to assess themselves.  If a student wants to know their reading level, show them how with resources like those you can find here.  If a student creates a video, honor the built in authentic assessment like number of views and comments and the child’s ability to find audience.  Show him/her how to share with appropriate audiences and get feedback for improvement.  If a student wants to know how well they might do on a test let them find a test prep review site where they can take practice tests and see how they’ve done.  Empower students to develop their own learning plans and assessments so they can learn and assess independently.  After all, they are the ones who own the learning.  

In our globally connected world, it is no longer acceptable for teachers to teach the way they were taught nor is it okay for administrators to allow it.  It is also no longer acceptable for administrators to take the easy way out and require connected kids to learn in a disconnected environment where they are banned from accessing sites or bringing to school the tools and technologies they love and need to succeed in the world.  In the 21st century, if we truly care about student success we will lift the bans, unblock the filters and connect our students to the world so they can learn effectively. 

6 Ideas for Developing a Personal Learning Network of Others Interested in Using Cell Phones in Education

While professional development and classes are a great way to learn, personal learning networks are quickly picking up momentum as the learning platform of choice for innovative educators and leaders. A personal learning network provides individuals with on-going, on-demand, personalized support anytime and anywhere they want it with others they meet in platforms such as twitter, Facebook, Classroom 2.0 or face-to-face. Because cell phones are banned in many schools and districts, it’s often difficult for educators interested in harnessing the power of cell phones in education to connect with others who share their interest. Here are ideas for getting started with developing your own personal learning network that will enable you and others to stay connected with the best ways to remain in-the-know about using cells for education.

Blogs
Read and comment on blogs that cover the topic of cell phones in education. As you come across blogs you like that cover this topic, add them to your Google RSS reader. In addition to The Innovative Educator, here are a few other blogs to get started.

• From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning
  A conversation about integrating student cell phones into classroom curricula
  http://www.cellphonesinlearning.com
• Living in the 4th Screen
  Exploring the use of mobile technology in education and life
  http://www.livinginthe4thscreen.com
• Learning with Mobile Technology
  A blog about technology in the classroom
  http://blogs.cellularlearning.org

Twitter
Use Twitter to find others who are interested in the same topic. You can do this using search terms like education cell phones, mobile learning, phones education or this commonly used Twitter hashtag #mlearning. Once there identify Tweeps (Twitter Peeps) who are saying things you like and follow them, reply to them, or retweet what they are saying. When you have questions or want feedback about a particular topic, use “@” (example @innovativeedu) to tag this people in your Tweet and they’ll directly receive your Tweet. Twitter will instantly provide you with a terrific on-demand network just waiting to support your personal learning.

Facebook
Facebook is yet another great vehicle to expand your personal learning network about topics of interest. As you begin following blogs, Twitter, and meeting people face-to-face and at conferences who are are interested in the same topic, request their friendship on Facebook. Facebook provides some benefits over Twitter in that you can link to other web pages nicely and tag the people who you want to see it using “@” (example @Lisa Velmer Nielsen). All those tagged will have your post show up on their Facebook page and they can comment and see one another’s post. The makings for a great conversation indeed. Others who may be interested can also chime in.

Another option on Facebook is joining a page about an area of interest. Just type the topic in the search box and see what comes up. A page that exists for cell phones in education is Let Students Use Cell Phones to Learn (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Let-Students-Use-Cell-Phones-to-Learn/311313147415). On such pages you’ll see information about the topic and you can share posts, thoughts, and questions. Again, you can tag specific people if you want what you write to appear on their wall.

Classroom 2.0
Classroom 2.0 (http://www.classroom20.com) is a terrific resource with tens of thousands of members available all the time. Once there you can join the Cell Phones in Education group (http://www.classroom20.com/group/CellPhonesinEducation), start your own conversations, or join conversations of those already going on. You can also share any of these conversations on Classroom 2.0 with your Twitter network, Facebook network, as well as a number of other sharing platforms. Those you connect with here also become a part of your personal learning network. You can friend these folks on Classroom 2.0, follow their blogs if they have them, introduce them to yours (if you have one), and connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, and beyond.

Google docs
Google docs provides a collaborative environment that provides an amazing opportunity when combined with the power of your personal learning network to think, build and grow. I have had several instances where to grow and solidify my learning and knowledge, I have worked on creating a document. This could be a comparison chart, a curriculum map, a lesson plan, a collection of ideas, etc. While alone, I have some good ideas, when I invite my PLN to join me, we all grow and create together. To do this create a Google doc. Make it public and allow anyone with the link to edit. Then share what you are doing via a Tweet, status update, email, etc. Your learning partners will have the opportunity to learn and grow with you...and, don’t forget the chat feature available on the page, so you can communicate with your collaborators.

Face to Face
We all know the old fashion face-to-face connections work really well. The problem for some is finding others in their physical space who share their interests. Of course a solution is taking a class or attending a conference. Those of us who have had the pleasure of connecting in online environments appreciate, how such relationships can deepen and grow when face-to-face and online connections are married. When at a conference, I first ran into some of my PLN that previously I had only connected with online and we all commented on how lovely and powerful it had been to meet one anothers minds before seeing their faces. At the end of the conference, we knew we had many ways to keep the conversation going. All this to say that face-to-face connections and learning are powerful and the learning can continue anytime/anywhere with online platforms.

If you’re ready to begin building your personal learning network of others interested in using cell phones in education, pick one or two of these ideas and get started. When you do, not only will you learn a lot, but you will also contribute to the learning of others as well.

PLN Powers Activate! - A Tech Teacher Taps Into Virtual Department To Create Curriculum Map

Guest post by Gregory Richardson, Teacher and Technology Coordinator, Salk School of Science, New York.

Every year teachers at my school submit their requisite curriculum maps describing how and what we are going to teach. One of the best things about being a technology teacher is that for the most part I have the authority to decide what to teach my students. On the flip side of this decision-making power is the responsibility of determining what is most relevant for my students to learn. I have to think deeply and decide what is most vital to include in my classroom.

When it came time for me to map out my year I did not have much trouble determining what my units would be about. My difficulty was in forming the essential questions to build the units around. Unlike other core subject areas that have multiple teachers working together, I was on my own. They bounce ideas off of one another and collaborate throughout the year. I am often on my own. Sometimes, I’m admittedly envious, as I witness how teamwork can lead to the essential questions they want answered by their students. In my case I am the only teacher in my content area - technology. So I did what many of us do when we initially want to seek out information – I turned to Google to search for examples of technology curriculum maps. Google failed me. My search was fruitless.

So I turned to The Innovative Educator, Lisa Nielsen. When I mentioned my need for assistance to the author of this blog, Lisa Nielsen, at best I hoped she could point me towards some technology curriculum maps that I could use for ideas and inspiration. Being an innovative educator she had something else in mind. Instead she replied to my Facebook message asking:

“Why don’t share what you have on Google docs and others can help you with it. I’ve had a lot of luck with docs like this”.

I was a little hesitant. I wasn’t completely confident about what I had written but I needed the help, so I put my trust in what she suggested. Lisa generously posted the link on Twitter and Facebook and invited people to contribute with this Tweet:

Help this tech teacher come up w/essential questions for his curriculum map http://tinyurl.com/techcurriculummap. PLN powers, activate!

I was not sure what to expect.

No sooner did she Tweet then I notice something amazing. Over the next two hours I had a virtual community of more than a dozen people viewing and editing my doc. Although one was not available to me at my school, I had found a virtual “department” to engage with about critical issues in the teaching of technology. Many people offered to help me. In the end my fellow tech-savvy educators helped me to formulate an effective, cutting edge and comprehensive map for my year.

At the top of my curriculum map I posted directions for the type of input that would be helpful and a note to join me in the Google chat on the right-hand side of the page. Not only did my virtual colleagues fill in gaps, we had lively chats about how to best meet the needs of my students.

I can’t overstate the learning I experienced through this process. There were so many educators out there ready to collaborate with me. All I had to do is invite them to help me. My story is exactly the reason to PLNs are so powerful. They provide on-demand PD and support allowing us to make global connections to others in our field when we need it most. PLN’s help harness our collective wisdom. They allow us to experience community in a new way. They create communities and through these communities we are able to be stronger, more diverse and ultimately more effective at what we do.

The end result, a terrific grade 6 tech curriculum map complete with essential questions, understanding, knowledge, content, transferable skills, and assessments. In the true PLN spirit, I’ve left the doc up as a reference for others and invite continued input. Click here to take a look.

Can the National Council of Teachers of English Keep Up with A Changing World for Literacy Teachers? Not Really.

I just came across the National Council of Teachers of English Policy Research Brief on 21st Century Literacies on my Twitterfeed, and though they take literacy past what it looked like in the 20th Century, it still seems quite rather distant from my vision of What a 21st Century Literacy Class Might Look Like Today.

Along with the Council’s outdated name (there’s so much more to it than teaching “English” in our globally connected world), their report, published in The Council Chronicle in 2009, gives little attention to what makes literacy in the 21st century so powerful, authentic publishing, Personal Learning Networks (PLNs), connecting via social media, establishing a professional digital footprint. There’s mention of MySpace (that’s like so five years ago), and social media software (uh, it’s not technically software), but nothing about the biggies like Facebook, Twitter, Ning. And, nothing about ditching the paper and hopping on the eReading and writing bandwagon.

The report suggests that global economies, new technologies, and exponential growth in information are transforming our society. Today’s employees engage with a technology-driven, diverse, and quickly changing “flat world.” English/language arts teachers need to prepare students for this world with problem solving, collaboration, and analysis—as well as skills with word processing, hypertext, LCDs, Web cams, digital streaming podcasts, smartboards, and social networking software—central to individual and community success.

Ugh. the report clearly was not written by those involved in the world of 21st century literacies. The language is outdated, key pieces are missing, and my personal bias, no...kids and teachers don’t need to use smartboards. The myth that they’re used as anything more than a projection tool in the real world of business is one the IWB companies are thrilled educators have bought into.

Wanting to give the NCTE the benefit of the doubt, I thought perhaps their 2009 policy brief Writing Outside of School may have touched on some of this. Nope. Okay, there’s some dabbling in the authentic use of online tools but the digital immigrant accent shines through loud and clear with examples that don’t make a lot of sense for instance: Two middle schoolers keep and share online journals in which they write reviews of music and films. Really? They keep online journals to write reviews of music and film. This is not how middle schoolers review music and film, and for the record, they don’t say “film.” Just not seeing that as the medium for this activity. Post comments and rate music and videos on YouTube is more in alignment with what students are doing. Another suggests: A teenager joins a group of his peers at 826 Valencia and reads his poem aloud. How about he posts his poem online to an authentic audience who rates, comments, and provides feedback becoming part of the student’s personal learning network where he connects with others with similar passions.

Looking at what I consider the big five, PLNs, social media, authentic publishing, eReading, and establishing a digital footprint, the NCTE gives little focus or attention to what is arguably some of the most important types of communicating our students need to learn to do. Here’s my suggested reading for the NCTE.

Crucial reading to develop the big five of 21st century literacy
PLNs, social media, authentic publishing, eReading, digital footprint development.

To help educators support students in authentic publishing read:

• Just Say Yes to Publishing! Exposing The Man Behind the Curtain If He’s Still Saying No.
• 21st Century Educators Don’t Say, “Hand It In.” They say, “Publish It!
• The Secret To Getting Every Student Excited About Writing
• Innovative Educators Can Help Students and Themselves Become Published Authors

To help the paper-trained become digital readers read:

• A few strong cases for ditching the paper and letting books grow digital wings
• Shed the Paper and Allow Books to Grow their Digital Wings
• Social Books Unlock Reader’s Voice and Provide Opportunity for Conversation
• iPads? Eh! Social Reading from Your Phone? Now That's Innovation!
• Ditch Paper and Get to the Thinking Faster.
• How I Lost 20 Pounds in One Month On a Paperless Diet
• Read and Personalize Books for Free with MeeGenius
• Innovative Ideas for Using Cell Phones to Summarize and Take Notes
• Reading 2.0: Where is the Love?
• The End of Books? (For Me, At Least?)

To help educators harness the power of social media read:

• Why social media curriculum is critical in schools
• 8 Real Ways Facebook Enriched Ms. Schoening’s First Grade Class
• Using Facebook with Students Becomes A Global Conversation via CNN
• Video Rebuttal to Educational Leaders and Parents On The Social Media Ban Wagon
• Why Every Parent and Teacher Should Learn MySpace and Facebook and A 30-Day Guide To Losing Your Digital as a Second Language (DSL) Accent
• Keep Your Students Connected This Summer with A Social Network
• How I Use Social Networking to Keep My Students Engaged All Summer Long

To help educators learn to harness the power of a personal learning network read:

• The PLN Matures. The Progression of the 21st Century Personal Learning Network
• Innovative Ideas for Getting Teachers Excited About Building Their Personal Learning Networks Real Time from Hunterdon Central Regional High School
• 5 Ways to Build Your 1.0 and 2.0 Personal Learning Network
• Why I *STILL* Love the Phrase Personal Learning Network
• 5 Things You Can Do to Begin Developing Your Personal Learning Network.
• 5 Readings and 2 Videos to Help Others Get Going with Personal Learning Networks
• How Blogging Has Helped Me Build My Personal Learning Network
  

To help educators support students in developing their digital footprint and 21st century voice read:

• Controlling your digital identity is as easy as 1-2-3
• Don’t Silence Students. A Resource to Support Students In Developing Their 2.0 Voice
• The 6 Step Plan to Using Your 21st Century Voice to Make a Difference
• Teaching Kids how to manage their Digital Footprint
• Ideas for parents interested in helping students manage their digital footprint and effectively participate in social media.

So what’s this mean for innovative educators? It means look at your council. Do they look like your students? Are they interacting in their worlds? Are they bringing students into the conversation? Do they exist in online worlds? If the answer is no, they probably aren’t preparing you or your students for the world outside the classroom. But don’t worry, if you want it, you and your students can develop a PLN that will be there for you.