My Professional Learning Network (PLN)

Professional Learning Network

A professional learning network is a community. The purpose of a professional learning network is to make connections with other professionals such as teachers. Its’ an opportunity for individuals to support one another, share resources, strategies, advice, stay up to date on changes within education system and share personal knowledge and understanding.

One way I have begun to build my professional learning network is by attending professional development workshops. Two workshops I attended were the Autism and OCT presentations.

The OCT presentation provided teacher candidates with information on applying for OCT and gave students and opportunity ask questions. This event was informative and allowed me to connect with professionals within the field.

The Autism workshop allowed me to gain knowledge on disabilities such as Autism. I was able to speak with professional in the field and gain resources such as books and assisted technology that will help integrate and support students with disabilities into the classroom.

REFLECTION

As a teacher candidate it is important that we as new teachers begin to develop these professional learning networks. It will allow us to stay connected with other teachers and use their knowledge to help support our careers and challenges we may face.

In my placement it was important to develop a professional learning network with the school staff team including my placement teacher, administration and SERTs. Having several students identified in my classroom with special needs, it was important that I made these connections and used the knowledge of my colleagues to support my teaching. With their support, I was able to learn about assisted technology and integrate it into the classroom to help students achieve success.

In the future, I will continue to develop these professional learning networks as they provide support. Through these connections teachers learn and are exposed to new concepts and technologies which if implemented correctly will benefit and support student learning. It is important to remember that although we are now the teachers our own learning does not stop; we too need to be lifelong learners and continue to use the knowledge of others to support our own understanding.