How PLN has opened my eyes and changed my point of view.
Recently I have had a lot going on in my life that I know would have never happened if I didn’t hit a button and change my life in a click!
First of all I have always seen my self as an ordinary teacher. I mean, I love my job, I’ve always tried to make my students feel happy and come home with at least something from my class, and I sort of always worried about who and what I am as a teacher. I never thought that I would matter outside the place where I’m working.
Never in my life I would imagine that someday, not only I could do a lot with my teaching, I also feel alive and happy about everything in my life; as a teacher and as a person.
It all began when I joined twitter of course, I started following people from public figure to random interesting people. But only when I started following educators that I’ve finally found myself. One of the 1st people I followed and built my PLN around with is of course Barbara Sakamoto (@barbsaka) . Her involvement in #eltchat gave me so much confident in trying to explore the posibillity of becoming more than just an ordinary kindergarten teacher.
I remember my 1st #eltchat involvement, I was very nervous, I didn’t have the nerve to even reply or speak on my point of view even though I was very eager to do so. But then I thought to my self that it’s now or never. So with that aza aza fighting in mind, I clicked the reply button and sent out my 1st tweet to #eltchat. To my surprise, I was heard! I got a reply from Marisa Constantinides (@Marisa_C) and Barb too. And it really changed my life! Literally! I wasn’t afraid to engage in the chat, even voluntering in writing the summary. Aside from that, I also started following more people who were not only help me to develop myself as a teacher, but as a person too! Without realizing it, I have built my own PLN in a way that is amazingly fast and fun too! I learnt a lot from the people in my PLN. I read their blog, interact with them and get to know them. Only by then that I know how to appreciate myself more. I could see that all these people that I’ve never thought I could possibly interact with in real life are just like me; they are dedicated teachers, love their job, have great passion about their life and could also break down and fall the way I did. Everybody at s ome point have experienced something in their life that has made them the person they are now. In a way, I see my self in many of them and it helps me to grow,
I have just written a guest post for http://www.teachingvillage.org about how it feels to attend a conference that has turned my life around ( http://www.teachingvillage.org/2012/10/27/little-teacher-me-in-the-big-elt-world-by-yitzha-sarwono/ ). After reading and hearing a lot of positive feedback from a lot of people, I’ve come to realize that once again my PLN has proven me that everything that we do in life matters and people are better when they are together.
This friday, November 8th 2012 Pusat Pengembangan Bahasa (PPB) UHAMKA in partnership with International Teacher Development Institute (iTDi) supported by VIE Foundation and International English TEFL TESOL Institute proudly present a very special webinar for teachers in Indonesia and around the world http://www.smore.com/4cfz-we-re-better-together?ref=email-content#w-3947491586
As someone who has experienced the power of PLN, I do believe that this one is not to be missed! Because, as simple as it looks like, building the right kind of PLN can help you set your goal then achieve them. We can really grow as long as you have the drive and the will to do so. You can read Barb’s blog post about PLNs : What is a PLN, anyway? http://www.teachingvillage.org/2012/01/03/what-is-a-pln-anyway/
So, let’s join hands and as Steven Herder (iTDi’s Program Director) once said : “Anything I can do, We can do it better”.
icha sarwono 