Two Articles on Web 2.0 and PLN Tools for Teacher Librarians

I found two great articles on social media for teacher librarians.  The first article is written by Joyce Valenza and contains a wealth of information about teacher librarians can teach using social media.  Many of the tools suggested could also be used to assisst teacher librarians in building their PLN.  To see the article, click here.

The second article provides some examples of how various professionals use social media to enhance their lives in one way or another.  One of the best ways to learn social media tools is to investigate it for personal interests first.  The article can be seen here. 

Twitter

I confess I used to be pretty skeptical about Twitter. Many of the tweets (messages) I received seemed to be irrelevant. I simply couldn't see what people were raving about. It wasn't until I created a separate professional Twitter account and started following people who are national speakers or who are also interested in media and technology that I started to appreciate the value of Twitter.

Want to know more about Twitter? For some background, click on this link. Sign up for an account and start by following a few people. Here's a few people who I find post helpful tweets in the area of media and technology.

shannonmiller (Van Meter teacher librarian)
joycevalenza (SLJ contributor, national speaker)
mcleod (Scott McLeod from IA State)
BlueSkunkBlog (Doug Johnson - national speaker from Mankato, Minnesota)
globalearner (Alan November - national speaker in area of technology)

If you'd like to follow me, my username is dmetherington.

Happy Tweeting!
Deanna

Nings

A Ning is an online site that allows you to create your own social network. The site recently went commercial, but educators may still create a Ning mini-network at the following link: http://education.ning.com/

Nings allow you to share blog posts, videos, photos, and more. Nings are easy to set up if you wish to create your own specialized education Ning for your school or classroom.

Nings of interest to teacher librarians include:

http://edupln.ning.com/group/schoollibrarians
A social network for personal learning networks for school librarians. A small group but I imagine it will grow in popularity.

http://www.classroom20.com/
A social network about web 2.0 tools for the classroom. Great resources and discussions!

http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/
A well-established and active social network for teacher librarians. Great site!

http://21centurylibrarian.ning.com/
A large Ning with a number of groups to join within the network.

Introduction

Hi everyone,

My name is Deanna Etherington. I currently work as Supervisor of Learning Resources at Green Hills AEA in Southwest Iowa. I have recently taken a class in PLNs or Personal Learning Networks and have become interested in both building my own PLN and also helping teacher librarians continue their learning through creating their own PLNs. This blog is a way to share my thoughts and resources as I explore what I find helpful. It's also a way for me to share with teacher librarians if they wish to create their own PLNs.

Come join me on my journey and please feel free to comment on things you find helpful. Let's learn together!

Deanna