If you don't know the Seinfeld theory of "Worlds Colliding", please take the 30 seconds to watch the video above and educate yourselves.
Most people, myself included, have every intention of keeping our worlds separate. It's much easier to manage everything that way. And on the rare occassion that our worlds DO collide ....
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| http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mind-blown |
But after reading THIS awesome article from Edutopia, I had MY mind blown! The article suggests "5 ways to Connect your PLN and PLC for Greater Learning and Legacy" .... PLC being defined as the community of professionals that physically surround you (colleagues in your building or on your team) and PLN being educators that you connect with through PD, social networks, etc. One of the suggestions is to "Link the online and face-to-face worlds". In other words .... intentionally collide the worlds!!!
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| http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3pw31d |
Why have I never thought of this before? If I used, say ... google+ to connect with my PLC (my colleagues that I meet with once a month to discuss our common goals, etc) then wouldn't we all be more likely to use google+ to network in the wider community? I also feel that connecting in an online environment makes our communication more accessible for more frequent use. We can share digital resources, video's, blogs, etc, in a way that we are already used to doing with other people ... that we may or may not have even met before!! Wow ... this could totally change the way I interact with people in my PLC - in the face-to-face world. To get started on my goal - I have created a community on g+ for my 6th grade team:
Lauren-
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post! It is a little crazy when the online and face-to-face worlds collide, but also very powerful. The online PLN does make information and connection with ideas more accessible- you don't have to wait until your meeting next week to connect!
Love the blog! Keep writing!
Thank you Tracy. 4 out of 8 members have already joined! I'm so excited. I know it will be an effort to help others use intentionally on a frequent basis (our existing form of communication is .... email ---- doh!) but I plan to stick with it and maybe even show some tips and things at our team meetings. Thanks for the inspiration and encouragement!
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