Personal Learning Network

 Personal Learning Plan 

Part One: Reflection 

Currently, I learn about new developments and opportunities through our ACT (Ambassador for Curriculum Transformation) teacher. In this role, the teacher is responsible for sending out a monthly newsletter for professional training and sharing discussions that we can sign up for. I can sign up for whichever topic we find interesting, which allows for great flexibility. My district also pays for our substitute teachers so I can attend these professional development opportunities. 

Furthermore, for every professional development day, we can choose from a long list of sessions to attend. There I can meet teachers with similar interests, share our concerns and challenges, and come up with solutions with facilitator support. Our local union usually sends out a survey for student needs and then plans sessions for those that we are interested in. I also have a professional development coordinator teacher at our school who shares various conferences that are not only during our designated days, but throughout the year. They also help us coordinate funding, which allows me greater opportunities to attend various types of conferences. 

Most of my sharing of my ideas and discoveries are done at these professional development conferences and learning opportunities. At my school, I share my knowledge very localized. I only really share it with teachers that I am close with, or those who ask about the session. Sometimes I will share it with my administration and they share it out to others. I am unsure of why I do not usually share what I have learned. As a first year teacher, I find I have a lot of learning to do and am not senior enough to then share my learning experience with others. I often feel that the resources and learning that I am interested and excited about are something that my close teacher connections are not interested with, or are not wanting to change their ways of teaching. 

Part 2: Connect 

These are my top 10 connections on social media that I use. I usually only use social media as it is the main way I get most of my information. 

My Top 10 Connections: 

  • @just.playsports on Instagram 

  • #sschat on X (Twitter)

  • #leadership chat on X (Twitter)

  • @futureof_education on Instagram

  • Intermediate Teachers (Ontario) - Resource and Idea Sharing on Facebook

  • Sooke Teachers on Facebook

  • Nipissing University Teachers on Facebook

  • @tededucation on Instagram

  • @indigenous education network on Instagram

  • @tiplerteaches on Instagram

Connection Overview 

On Instagram, I follow @just.playsports which is run by Kev Weir. Weir is a primary school teacher in the UK and is also a soccer coach. He also prepares lesson plans to share his knowledge that are usually free. The immediate reason for adding this account to my PLN is because I want to develop professionally in teaching physical and health education. I find it is one of the hardest subjects for me to teach and I often run out of ideas to share with the class, especially when doing our games of low organization classes. I am hopeful that this resource will provide me with games that I can then adapt to a middle school level. I hope to gain the skill of using these games to serve as an entry point for all skill levels in my class and make the games interesting for the students. 

I am a part of the Facebook group: Intermediate Teachers (Ontario) - Resource and Idea Sharing. There is not one sole author, however, a group of professionals sharing resources, conferences, and asking for classroom management help. My reason to add this to my PLN is because I have used many resources from this page already in my classroom and they share projects that have been well received by my students and the quality of work is good. Furthermore, teachers have posted about issues that I have also been facing in my classroom and the comments for solutions have been helpful, especially as an early career teacher. From this platform, I hope to continue to gain more resources, especially for language arts, gain more classroom management skills that have worked for others, and also be more of an active participant in the group. 

Another Facebook group that I am a part of is the Sooke Teachers. The contributors of this group are those who are a part of our school district. It is a private group where people are verified based on their district email they provide, which is then checked to make sure it is a registered email. In the group, teachers share local resources, local professional development opportunities, and ask questions about the school district. My reason to add this to my PLN is because it helped me when I had recently moved to British Columbia,  and during my time learning a new curriculum and hiring process. From the group, I hope to continue to take the local professional development programs they advertise, explore more resources from various grades, and learn about local issues and how I can explore them in my classroom. 

My last Facebook group that I am a part of is Nipissing University Teachers. In this group, professors, teaching alumni, and current students can share their experiences, resources, job opportunities, and discounts at various stores. I included this in my PLN because it helped me build my interview skills as many alumni share what types of questions they get asked at job interviews. This was most helpful as some alumni went to work in British Columbia so I was able to connect with them about the interview process. Furthermore, professors regularly share interesting articles and research to help continue to adapt my teaching practices. From the work they share, it has allowed me to reflect on my teaching practices and evaluate where I need to improve. From the group, I hope to continue to find updated research on teaching practices, learn from my fellow peers about which ones have worked well in their practice, and continue to reflect and grow in my teaching. 

Finally, the account @tiplerteaches on Instagram is a great page to follow. The author of the page, Megan Tipler, is a teacher and a PhD student from the University of Alberta. On her Instagram page, she shares how teachers can be a better ally for Indigenous students from within the classroom to the policies in the school board. Tipler also shares artistic crafts that have been done in her classroom that have brought her culture into these spaces. She now works for her school board and shares resources for Indigenous education. My primary reason for adding her account to my PLN is because I want to embed more Indigenous knowledge into my classroom and is a topic that I have become more passionate about. Furthermore, the curriculum in British Columbia requires educators to connect Indigenous knowledge into every subject. Tipler’s account has given me many resources, but has also highlighted the need for advocacy within the school board to be more knowledgeable to the Indigenous culture. From this source, I hope to gain more knowledge to help make my classroom a safer space for my Indigenous students, and teach my non-Indigenous students about Indigenous history and culture to become good global citizens. 

Part 3: PLN Map and Analysis 

My PLN network is mostly spread out between resource sharing and teaching development. According to Edublogs (n.d), PLN is to help educators connect with each other to share ideas, be current in education research, and share resources. On this front, I think my PLN is strong and has helped me develop in my career so far. It also showed that my preferred way to connect is on social media, but not as active on X (Twitter). As Edublogs (n.d) shares that an PLN can be accessed whenever. I find that the social media outlets that I have chosen allow me to access these professional developments daily, but not overwhelming. As explored in Lalande’s video (2013), learning should be easy, accessible, and always on, which is how I see social media. However, it also highlighted key weaknesses. Both Edublogs (n.d) and Lalande’s video (2013) state that a PLN needs to reflect your interests. As an educator I am interested in leadership and advocacy in education. However, on my map, these are the sections that are my lowest. When analyzing the map, I need to make more connections for Indigenous education advocacy and also how I can develop my leadership skills in education. As I am still developing in the education field, these connections need to be built in order for me to start finding my leadership style within education while sharing with others and receiving guidance. According to Edublog (n.d) need globally connected teachers. By finding more connections to build upon my interests I will be able to become a better educator for my students. As this guidance is easily accessible for me by using social media, and how it is always on, I can consistently build my leadership skill and invest in my interests, which in turn will make me a better and well connected teacher. 

Part 4: Reflection

When first reading over what a PLN entails, I thought I would have a difficult time to find ten connections. As an early career teacher I often feel overwhelmed and do not have many personal connections within my school district. When reading into the PLN and how to start, the resources mentioned blogs, which I do not use or know of any. When the resource mentioned social media as a way to connect, I remembered that I follow Kev Weir on Instagram where I get ideas for gym. When doing an overview of my social media, I realized that I have many connections that relate to education. I have often felt that the education pages that I follow do not get too many ideas or resources from them, however, from this experience I realized that I take more from these sources than I realize. 

As I take many resources and ideas from my connections it has highlighted the importance of building an PLN that tailors to my career goals and interests. Through this experience, I realized that I prioritized resource sharing but not enough on leadership in education and advocacy which are my interests and career ambitions. The benefit of having an PLN is to expand on my interest and career, thus I need to expand my PLN to include more in the leadership and advocacy sector.  I have first hand experience from the benefit of the PLN as I have gotten many lesson ideas, assignments, and classroom management advice from my connection. If I expand to include leadership in education I will be able to find my leadership style and use my network for advice and to continue to benefit my career advancement. Overall, expanding and reflecting on my PLN, I will continue to help advance my career and help me be the educator that I want to be. 



References 

Edublog. (n.d.). Building your PLN: For teachers . Retrieved from 

https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/creating-a-pln/.  

Futureof_education. (2025). Education Page. Instagram.

Indigenous education network. (2025). Education Page. Instagram.

Intermediate Teachers (Ontario) - Resource and Idea Sharing. (2025). Education Group. Facebook.

Lalande, M.-A. (2013). What is a PLN - Marc-André Lalande’s take. YouTube. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLLpWqp-owo&t=2s  

Nipissing University Teachers. (2025). Education Group. Facebook.

Sooke Teachers. (2025). Education Group. Facebook.

Tipler, M. [tiplerteaches]. (2025). Education Page. Instagram.

Tededucation. (2025). Education Page. Instagram.

Weir, K. [just.playsports]. (2025). Education Page. Instagram.

#leadership chat. (2023). Education Chat. X (Twitter).

#sschat. (2023). Education Chat. X (Twitter).

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