Welp, blogging world – I have a twitter. Yikes. You can follow me @MalloyMallory, but I can’t say much will ever happen there. I did start following a few educational “things,” (not real sure what they’re called), and look forward to possibly using this with my students.
I started building my PLN today through Google +. I joined a few educational communities such as EdTech, and CommonCore. I like Google+ because I am able to sync my personal and school accounts, which is lovely. I also have a Facebook group with many of the people I did my Internship year with, and from time to time we’ll post questions or ask for guidance via Facebook, and that, as well, is a great way to keep in touch with them and get great ideas and help!
With MACUL, I signed up for the Professional Learning SIG and the Online Learning SIG. Because I am at an Alternative High School, a few of our classes are coordinated through online courses – and they are awful and boring. I’m always looking for new ways to make online learning better!
I read an article from the Fall 2014 Journal titled “Building Online Assessment Literacy.” What struck me about this article and how it related to my classroom was not that my students were taking Smarter Balanced online or even preparing for the ACT online, but the fact that when we give them basic assignments and directions for online activities, many of them struggle. As someone who is older than them and has spent a bit less time in my life on computers, I guess I always assumed that they knew things that the article described as necessary vocabulary, “drag & drop,” “highlighting important passages,” etc.. Like anything else done in the classroom, online skills need to be modeled and practiced for students to become proficient in using them on their own.
Through the REMC Projects page, I watched Digital Storytelling. What I liked about this video was that it shows how easily you can give students a topic and a rubric and have them create from that. “Show me what you know, I don’t care how,” is what I always say to my students. This video highlighted some very cool apps that would be great for a Language Arts classroom, and I look forward to sharing them with our Language Arts teacher soon!
This Thing incorporates ISTE Standards Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, Model Digital Age Work and Learning, and Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership, as well as CITW Best Practices Cooperative Learning and Setting Objectives & Feedback. What I have noticed about PLNs is that they are not just for educators. PLNs are something I would love to show my students, and have them create for our classes, full of resources and videos that could be used for each unit and lesson. By showing them how to use the internet, they can explore and learn at much deeper levels, while collaborating and getting guidance from other students.
Mallory Malloy's 21 Things Digital Portfolio 
That is true our students also need to form their own PLNs. They already have networks of friends, but need to learn how to collaborate and communicate with others outside of that group.