How do you improve your student engagement skills with a professional learning network?

1 Identify your goals

Before you join or create a PLN, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and improve in terms of student engagement. Do you want to learn new techniques, tools, or frameworks to engage your students in different subjects, levels, or modalities? Do you want to address specific challenges or gaps in your current practice? Do you want to explore new trends or topics that are relevant to your students' interests and needs? By identifying your goals, you can narrow down your focus and find the most suitable PLN for your professional development.

2 Find or create your PLN

When you have your goals in mind, you can start looking for or creating your PLN. There are several ways to do this, depending on your preferences, availability, and resources. For example, you could join online communities or platforms dedicated to K-12 education, such as Edutopia, TeachThought, or Edmodo. Here you can connect with other educators, access curated content, and participate in discussions and events. You could also follow or engage with educators or influencers who share valuable content, insights, or tips on social media, blogs, podcasts, or newsletters. Additionally, you may create or join a group chat, a forum, or a webinar with educators who have similar goals, interests, or backgrounds as you. Here you can exchange resources, ideas, feedback, and support in an informal and personalized way. Lastly, you could participate in or organize a local or regional meetup, workshop, or conference with other educators to network and collaborate in person.

3 Engage actively and regularly

To get the most out of your PLN, you need to engage actively and regularly with the members and the content. This involves not only consuming the information and resources that are shared, but also contributing your own opinions, questions, experiences, and challenges. Through this type of engagement, you can build trust and rapport with other members, gain diverse perspectives and insights from different educators, receive constructive feedback and suggestions from other members, and share your successes and achievements with them. All of this can lead to more meaningful and productive interactions and collaborations, broaden your horizons, challenge your assumptions, help you improve your practice, overcome difficulties, boost your confidence, and motivate you.

4 Reflect and apply

The final step to improve your student engagement skills with a PLN is to reflect and apply what you have learned and gained from your PLN to your own teaching and learning context. This means not only understanding the theory and principles, but also experimenting with new techniques, tools, or frameworks; adapting and modifying ideas or resources; assessing and measuring the impact of your strategies; and celebrating your progress. By doing this, you can see how these strategies work for your students and goals, make them fit your specific situation, identify strengths and weaknesses in your practice, and share your achievements with your PLN and students.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?