Personal Learning Networks

I'm immediately attracted to the idea of Personal Learning Networks, which facilitate continued growth and improvement in my teaching practice while adding easily accessible and sortable resources and materials to my lesson repertoire. It seems the best way to really keep on top of current trends and to remain aware of cutting edge media designed for the classroom. Without a PLN we are doomed to repeat the same slow process of educational development that has existed for centuries; namely, that we ourselves have to develop all of our own lesson plans and materials gradually and meticulously over the course of many years, getting by with half-hearted instructions in the meantime, often getting frustrated and perhaps leaving the field altogether after only a few years, or retiring just when we have finally accumulated all of the resources necessary to be the effective instructor we'd always hoped to be.

In this sense, I'm seeking now to develop my own PLN... but I'm having a hard time finding ones that seem intuitive and meaningful to me (I kept on trying Delicious and Diigo - but it just wasn't working for me). Not only did that video we watched on PLNs confuse me, it just still feels like it would be faster to prepare my own lessons and materials than to try and figure out how to navigate those sites and sort through their resources. I'm sure they'll get better, and I'll get more comfortable with them.

For now...

I'm continuing to add RSS feeds to my new Google Reader account.

I'm trying to figure out flickr, so that I can store applicable Geology photos that I take in the field, and connect to others who have done the same.