other like-minded educators care about on a regular basis.
You also want to make sure you’re talking about these things in a
positive way. Talking about a great program your school is putting on
next week is an awesome way to use social media. Talking about how
poorly run the faculty meetings are at your school is a terrible idea. That
being said, the point of your PLN is to share ideas, resources and get
some help on different issues when you need it. I would just be careful
about the way you phrase those requests for help… remember the
person who plans and/or runs those faculty meetings you’re displeased
with may see your posts. You might ask your PLN during a twitter
chat how they make the most effective use of their time together in
faculty meetings or ask if anyone has had success flipping faculty
meetings to take ideas back to your building.
Boundaries still apply. Be careful not to blur the lines of
educator and student/parent relationships if you use social
media to communicate with students and parents (which is
one of the great reasons to use social media, but not the only
way you can use it professionally). This is one that you’ll
have to use that responsible person’s judgement from tip
#2 again to be your blurred lines guide.
Make connections and grow your PLN. I go back to tip #1don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to reach out to other
educators on social media that you may have never met in
person. Find other teachers who teach the same subject or
grade level as you or other administrators in your
position and add them to your PLN. Request to connect with
them; accept when they ask to connect with you. Try
participating in a Twitter chat (you can just lurk the first time
to get comfortable)- this is where the power of using Twitter
professionally comes from, in my opinion. Try searching
Twitter for a hashtag or chat that relates to your subject or
grade to help you find some people to follow. If someone is
using an abbreviation or hashtag that you’re unfamiliar with,
ask them what it means. Connect, ask, share, grow.
5.
6.