Step 2: Your Task, M.C.

 Your task: Step 2, Making Connections. We would like you to add your voice and ideas to our ongoing conversation on building your own PLN by undertaking one or more of the following challenges:

1. Preferences: We all enjoy connecting in different ways. Write a post or comment on this post about how you plan to connect with other educators. What site or tools do you think you would prefer to use to make connections. Why? Becoming a connected educator is something that takes work but has enormous advantages for both you and your students. In fact, many educators would say that it is an essential responsibility of teachers to connect and commit to lifelong learning. As George Couros has said,”Isolation is now a choice educators make”. There are so many ways to free yourself from isolation. The following steps in this series breaks down three powerful avenues to becoming a connected educator -Twitter and Facebook, blogs and content curation.
2. Relationship tips: Revise our list of tips for developing working relationships with other educators. What resonates most with you? Do you have any ideas to add? Tell us in a comment. Try different tools, there are so many differents forms of social media, online tools, and ways to connect. Dip your toes in and see how educators are using various tools. Find tools that work best for you. While it is definitely worth giving things a try, not every platform is for everyone. Choose to dedicate time to the tools you enjoy and find the most rewarding. PLNs work both ways,remember the more you share, the more you will find you receive in return.
3. Barriers: We have identified some common barriers to building a PLN.Leave a comment  and tell us what the biggest barrier has been for you(or others you know). Share your thoughts on how this obstacle  can be overcome. The PLN is a mindset, not the outcome of a workshop or the PD offered by many school districts. It is not a one-shot fix. You will probably find that  many teachers who are regular uses of online technologies  proclaim that they are “not very tech savvy”. It requires, at least at first, digital literacy beyond a Google search.