Portfolios+and+PLNs


 * Agenda for December 11th**


 * Part One: Do Now: Cartoon a Day in the Life of a 21st Century Teacher**
 * Part Two: Portfolio Review:**
 * Groups Are in Your Email**
 * Categories for Assessment will be your guide (handout)**
 * What is a PLN or PLE?**


 * Homework Sharing**

**Task One:** **Develop a definition of a Personal Learning Environment (PLE**//**): Essential Question** What are the similarities and differences between your Professional Teaching Portfolio and your Personal Learning Environment?//

A personal learning environment (PLE) is one of the latest new terms to emerge from the digital revolution. Broadly speaking, a PLE refers to the idea that teachers (and students) have the power to create their own systems for ongoing professional and educational learning by using widely available Web 2.0 tools and technologies.

According the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s “7 Things You Should Know About. . .” series, “PLEs represent a shift away from the model in which students and teachers consume information through independent channels such as the library, a textbook, or an LMS, moving instead to a model where students draw connections from a growing matrix of resources that they select and organize (Educause 2012)." Now that you have begun to create a Professional Teaching Portfolio to be shared with future employers and teaching communities, further conceptualize how that portfolio **//may or may not//** be different than your own Personal Learning Environment (PLE).As a way to begin to compare and contrast your Professional Teaching Portfolio with a Personal Learning Environment, please read the Educause article about PLEs found here: www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutPerso/171521.

**Task Two: Read about the PLE exploration** done by Michele Martin at the Bamboo Project**.** Be sure to take a look at her sections called "**Descriptions of My Personal Learning Environment**" along with her mind map samples. Here is a link to her Bamboo site:

 @http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog/exploring-personal-learni.html

 **Task Three: Create a Venn diagram (on paper)** noting the similarities and differences between a Professional Portfolio and Personal Learning Environment. So in one section you'd list what's specific to your Professional Teaching Portfolio, the next section what's specific to a Personal Learning Environment and in the overlapping section, the similarities. If doing this diagram feels a bit tricky, you may want to try doing **Task Four before doing Task Three.**

**Task Four: Once you have completed your Venn Diagram, try drafting a Map of your own //current// Personal Learning Environment on paper).** You may want to refer back to Michele Martin's example as a template. If your Personal Learning Environment is small, you may want to color code the parts of the environment that are currently in existence differently from the parts that you want to explore in the future. Feel free to sign-up for a free Mindomo account and make your own digital Personal Learning Environment (PLE) Map inside the Mindomo software (totally optional). You will find a video tutorial of the features here at @http://www.mindomo.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0rIVUfyJ-g

//What are Personal Learning Networks/Environments (Continued)?//

Link to the Innovative Educator Blogspot (Will Richardson Explains PLNs) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mghGV37TeK8
 * Consume, Converse, Create, Celebrate **

__**HOMEWORK**__
 * [| Read PLN Book, Richardson, Mancabelli] Chapters 1-3**

Continue to Develop your own definition of a Personal Learning Network/Environment How do you do that? A) Write a Definition for Personal Learning Network/Environment.(You may want to read a chapter or two of the PLN book before you draft your own definition). Be clear about your word choices. For example, does Personal Learning //**Network**// mean something different to you than a Personal Learning **//Environment//?** If it does, be aware of that difference as you write your definition (K. Sassorossi, 2012).

You may want to choose: **Personal Learning Network vs Personal Learning Environment (or perhaps use them** //interchangeably// **) to describe the way you learn/write your definition.**

B) Continue to use technology in your personal life. Be aware of the choices you make, why you make them, and how they enrich and extend curriculum. ".**..be the filter.**..(Emery, J. 2012)" for learning and thinking while using digital tools in the classroom. More concretely speaking, how do you: > (This is the difference between being a teacher that lets technology "happen to them" and one who "makes technology work for them" C) Be ready to present initial answers to the following prompts after the winter break (class date will be sent in email): Prompts: Please **contextualize** your PLN by preparing a **three to four page draft** document that addresses the following questions (one page per topic- double spaced is fine for the draft)
 * Develop a proficiency with the tools of technology.
 * Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively
 * Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
 * Manage, analyze, synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
 * Critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts
 * Attend to ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments
 * (What does your PLN look like?- You may want to start by describing your diagram)
 * How does your PLN enhance your teaching? give examples
 * How do you explain the connections between your PLN and 21 Century Learning and Teaching ([|get ideas from the Cs of 21 Century Teaching) explained here.]

Read Ready Player One E. Cline Attach a Post-it note to each chapter. Record learning moments on that Post-it. I have two extra copies of this book. Let me know if you need one. Amazon has some good deals too.

http://www.readyplayerone.com/