Personal Learning Network

A Personal Learning Network, PNL for short, is an organization or group of educators where they can communicate and keep up to date with everything that is going on in the world of teaching. Within the PNL community educators are able to communicate with one another and share and discuss their own teaching experiences and well as things that they have learned along the way. PNLs are very important for educators because they make sure that they are up to date with everything that is going on and it is a great way for teachers to get in touch with other teaching professionals in their field.

The internet is a great place to find professional organisations that can benefit anyone going in to the elementary education field. These are the five that I felt would be most beneficial for me:

1. Computer-Using Educators (https://cue.org/) is an organization that offers training opportunities for any teachers interested in learning more about implementing technology into their classrooms. Technology is increasing it’s presence in early education classrooms, so i is important for teachers to know how to use the newest technology.
2. National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) (https://www.naesp.org/) is an organization of teachers who share their devotion to their students and the responsibilities that early childhood educators have in the classroom.
3. The Association for Supervisors and Curriculum Development (http://www.ascd.org) is an organization of professional in the elementary education fields who specialize in making improvements of teaching skills, curriculum planning, and educating educators on new findings within early childhood education.
4. ASCD Learn, Teach, Read (http://www.ascd.org) is an organization of teachers who ensure that every student across the country is healthy, fed, safe, engaged in learning, supported, and challenged.
5. The Association of American Educators (https://www.aaeteachers.org/) is and organization that dedicated their time and efforts in making sure that every teacher knows about the current breakthroughs within the field, masters their techniques and teaching styles, and supports as well as challenges every single one of their students.

On the internet you can also find several different blogs and websites dedicated to integrating technology into the classroom. These are some of the ones that I found:

1. The Innovative Educator (https://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/) is a blog ran by  Lisa Nielson where she gives educators ideas and tips on how to implement technology into he classroom. she also talks about how to make technology more fun and engaging for the students in the classroom.
2. The EdTech Round Up (http://www.edtechroundup.org/) is a website that gives teachers the best news and updates in technology regarding technology. It makes sure that all teachers are up to date on how technology should be introduced into the classroom and how to keep it interesting to the students.
3. Edutopia (https://www.edutopia.org/) is a website dedicated to providing teachers with valuable tools and add ons that they can use in their classroom when implementing technology. There are several different categories for teaches to choose from, ranging from class activities to quizzes and tests to even internet quests and technical games for the students to engage in.
4. My Paperless Classroom (http://www.mypaperlessclassroom.com/) is a blog ran by Sam Patterson, K-5 tech integration specialist, where he talks about his past experience with implementing technology into his classroom and the effects that it had on his students. He talks about what worked for him and things that he believes that he could have improved on to make the experience better for the students.
5. Free Technology 4 Teachers (https://www.freetech4teachers.com/) is a blog that is ran by  Richard Byrne, that provides teachers with several different app s and websites that they can use to make implementing technology more successful within their classrooms. There are several different sites listed on the blog that students will enjoy because the sites are based around game and interactive activities to make the experience interesting for students.

There are several different organizations that offer informational workshops for teachers. I have found three that are at max a two hour drive away from Mays Landing, New Jersey. These workshops listed below are all technology based:

1. Genesis Learning (http://www.genlrn.com/professional-development/) is an organization based in Cranford, New Jersey that focuses on furthering the education and knowledge of today’s teachers. They offer a STEM program for teachers that furthers teacher’s knowledge on new and improved technology and advances in the technology. This program is very flexible in the sense that the organization even offers to go to the teacher’s school in order to have the workshop and the also hold workshops at schools located in Cranford, New Jersey.
2. EdTechTeam (https://www.edtechteam.com/pd/) is an organization based solely around educating teachers on how to transform their classroom by incorporating technology into their classrooms. They offer summits and “boot camps” that encourage teachers to add technology into their daily routines. Their summits and workshops work to make teachers more comfortable with the idea of using technology more often and they also work to make sure that the teachers understand how to properly use each application to minimize the amount of frustration caused by misunderstandings. EdTechTeam is very flexible and can bring events to different places if they are not offering an event in a certain area at that point in time.
3. The NJ Association of Administrators (https://www.njasa.net/domain/205) provide a workshop called Techspo ’20 that encourages teachers from all over New Jersey to come to the workshop to learn about the new advances in technology over the years and learn how to properly use new versions of technology. They aim to keep New Jersey teachers educated on everything new that is going on in terms of technology.