Written by Part 1: Reflection
I learn about new developments, ideas, and opportunities through a variety of professional networks rather than a single source. My PME coursework provides an academic, research-informed grounding, while the PLC I facilitate at school allows for iterative, practice-based inquiry. Conversations with colleagues, both formal and informal, as well as departmental resource sharing, remain among the most valuable opportunities for professional growth because they allow the sharing of practically tested pedagogies. I also rely on curated professional communications, including newsletters from CAIS and CIS Ontario, as well as educational and leadership-based podcasts that offer curated, practical strategies.
I primarily share my ideas relationally; as a PLC facilitator, I share relevant resources to each facilitator’s inquiry focus that I feel will help guide discussion and professional development. In my role as Summer Academy Principal, I aim to curate research-informed best practices at the outset of the term and then create an openly shared document that teachers can use to facilitate information and resource sharing. With that in mind, I recognize that a Personal Learning Network (PLN) is not merely a collection of resources; rather, when leveraged intentionally, a PLN can shift professional learning from passive consumption to active co-construction, as I aim to do with the shared resource for Summer Academy faculty. Moving forward, I want to engage more actively in digital professional spaces, such as social media teaching groups of which I am a member, so that I can contribute to ideas beyond my school context.
Part 2: Connect
- Canadian Accredited Independent Schools Top 12 Weekly
- CIS Ontario Connect
- College Board AP Classroom Community
- National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
- Edutopia
- Cohort21
- Facebook AP Lit teachers group
- Cult of Pedagogy Podcast
- A Bit of Optimism
- Worklife with Adam Grant
The Canadian Accredited Independent Schools Top 12 is a weekly email digest sent to educators and leaders from CAIS. This serves as a PLN, providing curated, timely updates specific to Canadian independent school teaching and leadership. I hope this resource will strengthen my strategic awareness as a PLC facilitator and Summer Academy Principal, ensuring that innovations in teaching and learning align with national trends and accreditation standards.
CIS Ontario Connect acts as a professional networking platform to facilitate dialogue with independent school educators across Ontario. The platform enables collaborative problem-solving around curriculum, assessment, and leadership challenges. This resource will support informed decision-making, cross-school benchmarking, and the refinement of initiatives before implementation in my school setting.
Operated by the AP Central College Board, the AP Classroom Community is another online, collaborative space. It serves educators teaching AP courses, which is relevant to my context as an AP English Literature and Composition teacher. This resource will keep me aligned with assessment updates, scoring insights, and discussions on AP instructional best practices.
The National Council of Teachers of English is a professional organization to which I remain connected for research-informed conversations on literacy, writing pedagogy, and English studies. While it has been a few years since I attended, they hold global conferences each year. This resource will strengthen my teaching practices within the English classroom, particularly as evolving technologies such as AI reshape writing instruction.
A Bit of Optimism is a podcast by Simon Sinek, a leading voice in leadership and workplace culture. The podcast explores relational leadership and purpose-driven decision-making. I hope this resource will expand my thinking about leadership, culture, and trust, and deepen my capacity for relational leadership, particularly as I lead my school’s PLC and Summer Academy.
Part 3: Mapping My PLN
My PLN demonstrates an intentional commitment to professional growth across teaching and learning, leadership, and relationship-building. With an independent school focus, connections such as CAIS, Cohort 21, the College Board AP Classroom Community, and NCTE ensure that my network remains grounded within my institutional context. As the literature suggests, “while informal networks and learning opportunities are a hallmark of PLNs, it is not uncommon to include formal learning tools as well” (Green, 2017). The inclusion of podcasts, social media groups, and articles reflects a commitment to relational and reflective leadership and demonstrates informal networks, which make up a significant portion of the overall network; however, my PLN web also reflects hybridity through the inclusion of formal professional development structures such as NCTE conferences and AP College Board platform training modules.
A key strength of this network is its diversity of platforms and perspectives. It aligns with the idea that “within a networked environment, there is less emphasis on singular sources of expertise, and instead, a focus on dialogue and constructing knowledge as a group” (Green, 2017). While councils and boards represent formalized, singular sources of authority, my PLN supports distributed expertise through informal dialogue structures and individual members’ willingness to share and distribute knowledge with others.
With that in mind, my PLN still has shortcomings. Brown, Davison, and Hegel emphasize “the importance of reaching outside your usual areas of interest and expertise” (Bozarth, 2011). While my network is strong within independent schools and English education, it lacks explicit engagement with contexts outside my ‘usual areas’; of note are Indigenous education, public boards, and equity-centred scholarship. Additionally, much of my participation, admittedly, involves consuming and curating rather than actively contributing. Strengthening these areas would ensure that my PLN extends both the reach and impact of my professional practice.
Part 4: End-of-Assignment Reflection
Creating a Personal Learning Network has inherent benefits, as it allows one to grow their practice through wider connections. Specifically, a PLN is powerful because it is “a network [of] people you connect with [who] are in turn connected to other people in organizations who influence and enrich the interactions in your group through various collaboration tools” (LaLonde, 2012). Mapping my PLN illuminated the relationships among the various sources of my professional development, something I had never visualized before. Doing so revealed the importance of dialogue and resource-sharing in sustaining my own professional growth. While I continue to learn through formal structures, such as coursework within my PME, those mapped on my web demonstrate an ongoing commitment to learning beyond merely formal structures.
The most significant benefit of this web is clarity, as I now recognize where the majority of professional learning lies: innovation in teaching and learning, independent school leadership, and English curriculum design. Importantly, it also identifies where it does not yet extend, such as Indigenous and equity-based education. Such awareness can help foster strategic growth rather than a passive accumulation of resources, as I’ve relied on in the past. A PLN can be transformative not because it increases the volume of information, but because it can sharpen discernment: deciding what to amplify, what to practice, and what to redistribute within one’s professional community.
Another benefit is reciprocity. The assignment prompted reflection on how often I consume ideas versus how often I contribute. In networked spaces, “as a co-learner, your personal experiences, ideas, and opinions are just as valid as anyone else’s” (Ward, 2017). This reminder challenges me to participate more visibly, through writing, commenting, or presenting, so that my PLN becomes an active space of co-constructive rather than a passive one of resource and content curation.
Ultimately, this process reinforces that innovation in teaching and learning is relational. Sustainable professional growth depends not on isolated expertise or merely formalized structures, but on deliberate participation in networks that break echo chambers, challenge assumptions, expand thinking, and cultivate shared leadership. Moving forward, I’d like my PLN to serve as an intentional structure that supports continuous and collaborative professional practice.
References
André LaLonde. (Oct 18, 2012). What is a PLN [Video]. Youtube
Bozarth, J. (2011, April 5). Nuts and bolts: Building a personal learning network (PLN). The Learning Guild. https://www.learningguild.com/articles/nuts-and-bolts-building-a-personal-learning-network-plnGreen, J. (2017). Personal Learning Networks: Defining and Building a PLN. In Learning in the Digital Age. Oklahoma State University.
Ward, R. (2017, June 30). An introduction to Twitter education chats. Edutopia.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/introduction-twitter-education-chats-robert-ward