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=**Personal Learning Networks (PLN)**=

Explanation of how these tools will help me as a learner:
As I walked into our Web 2.0 class, I was familiar with Twitter, Skype, and Blogs. However, I hadn't done very much with any of them besides putting my classroom links on a blog and having students journal and answer questions with each other on our private blog. I maybe Tweeted about 10 times and I used Skype with family members. As I walked out of today at the end of our three days, I have a whole new understanding of what a PLN is and how it will be useful to me in my classroom and professionally.

As I write this reflection, I am now on iGoogle which is a direct link to my Google Reader account, Twitter Account, Facebook, and I am sure I will be able to add my classroom blog which I will create this summer in our new Google tools. I have been super excited working in Google Reader and finding so much information, but being able to star things that catch my eye and knowing I can go back to those items later to learn more. I love that Google Reader will bring the websites to me and update me of new information. That's pretty great and a time saver.

I see the importance of Twitter, but still need to use it more to see its true value. I think I need to organize my Tweetdeck so it works for me professionally.

Diigo was new to me but how great to have a place where you can make your own bookmarks, share bookmarks of other people with the same interests, and gain useful ideas for the classroom all in one place that will go with me wherever I go.

**Explanation of how these tools will help support classroom content:**
As teachers, we are constantly looking for new resources that will help engage our students with the content they are learning. Having a PLN is an excellent way for teachers like myself to stay updated with what is happening now, not a resource someone posted 10 years ago that is still on their webpage. It's a chance for me to come into contact with different types of people who may have a direct link to the content I am teaching and allow me to bring their expertise or them into my classroom either through their work or maybe a Skype session where students ask questions. It makes our big world come right into our small classrooms and takes our students on academic journeys they would never have within the confines of only a textbook. The information I can find and the tools students can utilize through my PLN will be invaluable to fostering their creativity and their urge for learning more about the content we are teaching and then applying those same skills when learning about something that interests them personally.

Examples of PLNs I have created this week:
The following is the blog I created for my class but I was not very faithful to writing on it. I used it mainly as a place for students to acces my links for the classroom. I am going to create a new blog in blogger which will be through our google docs.

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I have created snapshots of all the PLNs I have worked on this week. Tweetdeck Google Reader Diigo Skype iGoogle