Around 10pm last night I accomplished a goal that I had been working on since early July. I sent out invitations to about 1500 Nebraska teachers to join a new network, called the Nebraska Educators Network.

Back in April I started my PLC by joining the NECC Ning. At the time I did not realize how meaningful the people in my PLC would become. Most teachers in my region teach in small schools where they are the only subject-area teacher in their discipline.  For the most part we only see teachers outside of our schools at one in service each year. We do not network. We do not share ideas. Nebraska teachers have amazing lessons and ideas, but they do not have a way to share them easily with colleagues.

The Ning will allow teachers to create groups to help facilitate communication. I would like to see educators create the following groups:

• Social Studies (maybe even specialized–History, Geography, Government, ect)
• Math (one for each class—Alg, Geometry, Calc, Trig, ect)
• Science (different categories)
• Language Arts ( different catgories)
• Different groups for each grade—–k-6
• College professors (2 year/4 year)
• Counselors
• Librarians
• Coaches (by sport)
• SPED teachers
• Elective groups (Art, PE, Music, Band, FCS, drama, ect)
• Student teachers
• New teachers
• others?????? I know I am missing some!

Educators can start discussions inside of the different groups. They can share links to webpages, videos, and lesson plans. The biggest complaint from teachers is that they do not have enough time to get things done. They don’t have time to find new lessons. They don’t have time to talk to colleagues. The beauty of a Ning is that teachers can participate when it is convenient for them. For example, Mr. Smith a Social Studies teacher might request help finding a good website to use for the upcoming election. He puts his request in the Ning and within 2 days he has five responses. How did those teachers who responded know he put out a request for help? They subscribed to changes in the  “American Government” group. This means that each time a change is made in that group they automatically get an email.

I hope this network is wildly successful. It has tremendous potential, but it takes participation to make it happen. Please feel free to join even if you are not a Nebraska educator.