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Personal and Professional Learning Network

Personal and Professional Learning Network (PLN)


The water, mountains, plants and animals are all part of my learning network.

Part 1: Reflect

    Generally, I learn about new developments, ideas and opportunities in fields I care about through a variety of interfaces including social media, reading the news or specific websites, taking courses, attending professional development events, discussions or collaboration with colleagues, my professional organization websites, or information passed on to me by my administrators or school district specialists. I also am an avid reader of books, and I voraciously peruse bookstores and love to read new books. Reflecting on this, I realize that most of my information comes from individual searching rather than from being in a community of learners.

    Mostly, I share my ideas and discoveries through social media (facebook, Instagram, linkedIn), or through conversations with individuals at school, staff meetings or professional days. I realize that until taking this masters program at Queen’s University, I have been primarily a consumer of ideas rather than a creator or curator of ideas. I do share things on social media, but generally these are re-posts of information without any of my own comments or thoughts. Upon reflection, this seems to be a more passive role, when I would like to have a more active and collaborative relationship with learning, becoming more of a contributing member of a community of learners.

Part 2: Connect - 10 Exciting Resources or Connections

1. Aiyana Twigg’s Ktunaxapride (Instagram) https://www.instagram.com/ktunaxapride/ (2024) is one of my favorite resources/connections I have discovered. She posts regular Ktunaxa language learning videos, sharing her own journey and encouraging others to learn their own Indigenous languages. She is a Ktunaxa language apprentice and represented Canada at the UNESCO launch of the Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032). I also follow Aiyana on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X. I regularly use Aiyana’s videos with classes as we are starting to learn Ktunaxa language in our BC First People’s and English First Peoples 12 classes, which I support as a Ktunaxa language learner.

2. Dr. Christopher Horsethief is an amazing local Ktunaxa scholar and leader who would be considered a vital resource or connection. I follow him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christopherhorsethief/ (2024), Facebook https://www.facebook.com/IndigenousLanguageApps/ (n.d.) and X (n.d.) at https://twitter.com/horsethiefphd He also has a website which can be found at https://www.christopherhorsethief.com/ (2024) which links to his extensive collection of vimeo videos and teachings. His videos have especially helped me have a much better understanding of Ktunaxa world view and language learning. His ability to fuse European discourse with Ktunaxa traditional wisdom provides an exemplar of “Two-Eyed Seeing in the context of my local area.

3. Columbia Basin Environmental Educators Network (CBEEN) which can be found at: https://cbeen.ca/ (2019) is another of my favorite resources/connections. I also follow CBEEN on Facebook and through the e-mail list for updates. I am a member of the CBEEN as it has many resources and training opportunities in my local area and is a leader in local Environmental and Indigenous education which are inter-related topics due to the place based nature of Indigenous pedagogies. I started my Ktunaxa language learning through CBEEN and this helped me begin to build relationships with Indigenous community members around me, as well as be able to start sharing Indigenous language learning in my school. I regularly purchase books from this organization, and also attend online training offered such as the “Four Seasons of Indigenous Learning” (Outdoor Equipment and Learning Resources, 2024).

4. Selkirk College is an important local resource or connection in my PLN. I often visit their website at: https://www.selkirk.ca/ https://www.selkirk.ca/ (2024) and I also follow them on X at https://twitter.com/selkirkcollege (n.d.), on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/SelkirkCollege/ (2024) and on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/selkirkcollege/ (2024). Selkirk is a local leader in education, as they offer University transfer courses, Trades programs, free adult upgrading, and community education as well. They also sponsor the local Mir Centre for Peace which is a leader in local reconciliation efforts. Selkirk often presents innovative guest speakers, hosts symposia on diverse topics relating to education, and generally promotes diverse opportunities for community education, including Indigenous Education and Inclusive education. I also advise many of my students on their graduation programs, so I need to stay current in what post secondary options are available to help transition my students to post secondary supports and programs.

5. BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) website at https://www.bctf.ca/ (2024) or on X (n.d.) at https://twitter.com/bctf is one of my go-to education resources, as it has links to the Provincial Specialists Associations, regular professional development workshops, as well as a growing section of diverse educator created resources on many topics including Inclusive, Indigenous, and Environmental Education. I also follow the BCTF on Facebook (2024). I also get email updates from the BCTF as a member. This resource helps connect me with provincial issues in education, as well as helps me connect with other teachers, classroom resources, and ideas in my teaching areas. It helps me understand emerging educational issues within British Columbia.

6. UBC’s X̱wi7x̱wa Library is an amazing resource for anyone interested in Indigenous scholarship and research, including relating to education. There are many open resources at the website, https://xwi7xwa.library.ubc.ca/ (2024) including films, online resources, and graphic novels. I follow the X̱wi7x̱wa Library on Facebook (2024) https://www.facebook.com/xwi7xwa/ and X (n.d.) at https://twitter.com/xwi7xwaLibrary/. This library is a remarkable place to research content for use in classrooms, or learn more about Indigenous pedagogies, especially on the West Coast.

7. The Nelson Museum, Archives and Art Gallery (NMAG) is another important resource and connection: https://nelsonmuseum.ca/ (2024). I follow the NMAG on facebook (2024) at: https://www.facebook.com/nelson.museum.archives.gallery and subscribe to their email list. The Indigenous Educator at the Museum is an amazing resource and community powerhouse, organizing the annual Stoodis Indigenous Film Festival, and building strong connections with the returning Sinixt Nation, the local Metis community and diverse people in the community. The museum houses a permanent Exhibity of Jaime Black’s REDress Project the only other permanent exhibit of this project outside of the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg. This is a centre of arts and culture in our community, and provides diverse programming throughout the year on innovative topics, including hands on activities, speakers and artwork. An ongoing relationship with this organization provides me with essential learning about diverse local voices, and provides opportunities throughout the year for field trips and experiential learning for students.

8. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation website (2024): https://nctr.ca/ https://nctr.ca/ is an important resource for all teachers interested in Indigenous Education, as it houses the 94 Calls To Action (2015) and many other reports, as well as a growing collection of educational resources, research, exhibits and connections to community events. I get regular updates from the NCTR throughout the year through Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/nctr.ca https://www.facebook.com/nctr.ca (2024) , and X https://twitter.com/nctr_um (n.d.). Many of my students use resources including reports and videos from this website for research projects.

9. Dr. Joanne Archibald’s Indigenous Storywork website can be found at: https://indigenousstorywork.com/ (n.d.). This website is an amazing collection of resources for teachers to help us understand the importance in Indigenous cultures of story-work, and how to bring this work into our teaching. She has numerous video teachings and links to important references materials for teachers beginning to introduce these topics into classes and needing support and guidance. As a teacher beginning to engage in using story-work with my students, knowing it is an important aspect of many Indigenous pedagogies, this is an essential place to begin my journey.

10. The website Educators as Local Indigenous Allies (2024) https://sites.google.com/view/kootenay-indigenous-allies/ is a website I created for teachers in the area called ʔaqyamǂup in Ktunaxa, k’iyá’mlup in n̓syilxčn̓, or Nelson, BC in English. It is an ongoing project as part of my own journey as a settler educator towards decolonization and Reconciliation. It is aspirational in motivating other educators to begin to develop good relationships with local Indigenous people, moving us towards Indigenization of education. The first section guides you through a "learning journey" to help educators understand the local context of Truth and Reconciliation. It includes key aspects of Indigenous pedagogy, as well as local Indigenous voices. The second section is valuable for all educators, as it seeks to offer answers to vital questions many settler educators might have about how to become a settler ally with Indigenous people. I have also linked my blog into this site, so that I can begin sharing and interacting more with other local educators and Indigenous people. This will be an ongoing Reconciliation project I hope to continue after my PME is completed as a way to carry my learning and reflecting forward and build community.


Part 3: Mapping your PLN


Figure 1: My Personal Learning Network


PLN Map Reflection:

    As I reflect on my PLN, I appreciate how Lalande emphasizes the way that a network brings people and all their extended connection into relationship with my learning, and also that how I interact with these various people is a “choice” (2012). It is both reassuring and inspiring to realize that I can choose the focus of my learning and engage in ways that feel right in my own network. In my network, I am proud of the personal relationships I am building with people in different local Indigenous communities. This has been a major focus of my learning the past few years, and my work is showing in my network. As Green draws our awareness to “PLN’s can encompass both digital and face to face connections” (Perez (2012) as cited in Green, 2020). While Green’s article highlights digital connections, it is important to recognize that in Indigenous Education, personal face to face connections are also very important. Often Elders or other community leaders do not have a digital presence or way to interact digitally besides perhaps an email or phone number to reach out and set up an in-person meeting. Still, I have also used technology such as zoom courses, website research and following Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X to develop better relationships and build my network.

    While creating the map of my PLN, I realize that I need to develop better relationships and understanding of the Secwepemc and Syilx Nations, as I my main connections are with the Ktunaxa and local Sinixt people. Additionally, while I have good connections with Ktunaxa people in a regional sense, the most local Federally recognized Indian band in my area is the Yaqan Nukiy Band, and unfortunately I don’t have any personal connections to people in this community, except for my experiences at the Napika Wu’u Hotsprings which the community recently purchased and which is a wonderful resource on it’s own, as it has a wonderful bookstore selling handmade Indigenous artwork by local people and offering Indigenous cuisine. I would like to create better connections and understanding with these regionally close First Nations neighbours.
 
    Another area of weakness in my PLN is a lack of learning together in a larger community. In some ways feel like I am an outsider, on the edge of communities trying to find my way in. As Green iterates “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 comes into play.” (2020) I have had some experiences of genuine learning in community such as my Ktunaxa language learning experiences, however it still feels that much of my learning has been individual rather than as part of a learning community.

    I love that Green mentions “ a successful PLN is also characterized by participants who are highly self-motivated and curious.” As a self-motivated and curious person, I hope to engage more with others and learn together in community. Up until recently, I have certainly been more of a “lurker”, just reading and listening and learning. I think one thing that holds me back is fear of expressing myself in a larger forum. Bozarth (2011) also reiterates the importance of engaging in relationships, explaining “you must be an active part of that network” to build your network and really benefit from it. So, I can see that I need to face my fear of expression in larger forums and begin to interact more visibly and vocally to build a stronger sense of community.
 
    A final piece of advice I would like to investigate further is from Bozarth (2011) who references the importance of stretching outside your comfort zone and normal interests to expand your perspective. One gap in my PLN seems to be in International (outside of the local First Nations) organizations or perspectives. While I have focussed on developing local and regional relationships and connections because all Indigenous cultures are unique and connected to a specific place, it is also important to develop broad understandings of issues and best practices in pan-Indigenous and International contexts because the impacts of colonization are felt around the world. I know there are also amazing resources from UNESCO, Australia and New Zealand, and I think connecting with international communities would really help broaden and enrich my perspectives.

Part 4: End of Assignment Reflection.

    While I didn’t have the terminology to describe it before, I realize I have been building a Professional Learning Network (PLN) for some time. Bringing conscious awareness to the process of building a PLN is a good practice because it can help identify strengths and stretches in your network. Understanding where you could extend yourself further, learning about new perspectives and more diverse ideas will help our teaching practice, and make innovation in our practice more likely. As part of a community or network of learning, we can become more than individuals trying to process unfathomable quantities of information in the digital world. As part of a network, new ideas and effective practices can be communicated quickly and more members of the community can benefit from this sharing of information.

    Overall, I hope to take Bozarth's (2011) advice
 If you engage, people will engage back. So the real key to building a strong PLN? Show up. Share. And participate.
 The experience of taking my PME at Queen’s University has really helped to build my confidence in expressing my own ideas and grounding them in research. With this confidence I feel more prepared to engage in my PLN as a more active participant, more willing to share ideas. My studies of Indigenous education have also helped me see learning as more an ongoing process of discovery, rather than as a “pass or fail” activity, which was the view of teaching and learning I was raised with in Canadian public education. Part of my fear of contributing to larger forums is related to this view that might fail, and therefore it would be better to keep quiet and listen. I can see that this unconscious bias is holding me back from being a more active participant in my PLN, willing to make mistakes, accept feedback from a larger group, and keep learning together in community.


References

Archibald, J. (nd.) Indigenous Storywork. [website]. https://indigenousstorywork.com/

BCTF (2024) BCTF kids matter teachers care. [website]. https://www.bctf.ca/

BCTF (nd.) Bctf. [X Page]. X. https://twitter.com/bctf

Bozarth, J. (2011, April 5) Nuts and bolts – building a personal learning network (PLN)

Learning Guild. https://www.learningguild.com/articles/659/nuts-and-bolts-building-a-personal-learning-network--pln/?rd=1

Columbia Basin Environmental Educators Network (2019) CBEEN. [website]. https://cbeen.ca/

Outdoor Learning Equipment and Resources (2024) Four seasons of Indigenous learning.

[website]. Outdoor Learning Store. https://outdoorlearningstore.com/4-seasons/

Green, C. (2020) Chapter 5 Personal learning networks- defining and building a pln. Learning in the digital age. Oklahoma State University. https://open.library.okstate.edu/learninginthedigitalage/chapter/personal-learning-networks_defining-and-building-a-pln/

Horsethief, C. (nd.) Horsethief. [Instagram Page]. X. https://twitter.com/horsethiefphd

Horsethief, C. (2024) Christopher Horsethief. [Instagram Page]. Instagram https://www.instagram.com/christopherhorsethief/

Horsethief, C. (2024) Indigenous Language Apps. [Facebook Page]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/IndigenousLanguageApps/

Horsethief, C. (2024) Christopher Horsethief Ph.D.[website]. https://www.christopherhorsethief.com/

Lalande, M. (2012, October) What is a pln? [video] DevPro PD Flipped youtube. https://youtu.be/hLLpWqp-owo?si=ttCtZpSomPSqyiko

Mobbs, M. (2024) Educators as Local Indigenous Allies. Google Sites. https://sites.google.com/view/kootenay-indigenous-allies/learning-journey

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. (2024) National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. University of Manitoba. [website]. https://nctr.ca/

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. (2024) National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. [Facebook Page].Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/nctr.ca

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. (2024) National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. [X Page]. X. https://twitter.com/nctr_um

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation of Canada. (2015). Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: calls to action. [pdf]. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf

Nelson Museum, Archives & Art Gallery (2024) NMAG Nelson museum, archives & art gallery. [website]. https://nelsonmuseum.ca/ .

Nelson Museum, Archives & Art Gallery (2024) NMAG Nelson museum, archives & art gallery. [Facebook Page]. https://www.facebook.com/nelson.museum.archives.gallery .

Selkirk College (2024) Selkirk college. [website] https://www.selkirk.ca/ Selkirk College (2024) Selkirk College. [Facebook Page]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/SelkirkCollege/

Selkirk College (2024) selkirkcollege. [Instagram Page]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/selkirkcollege/

Selkirk College (nd.) selkirkcollege. [X Page]. X. https://twitter.com/selkirkcollege

Twigg, A. (2024) Ktunaxapride. [Facebook Page.] Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/713881839526449/

Twigg, A. (2024) Ktunaxapride. [Instagram Page.] Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/ktunaxapride/

Twigg, A. (2024) Aiyana Twigg.[social media page]. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/aiyana-twigg-027860273/?originalSubdomain=ca

Twigg, A. (2024) Speaking Ktunaxa - Episode 139 [video]. youtube. Speaking Tongues Podcast. https://youtu.be/N8ft-XZevrw?si=eVDku_H57rCiqHnN

UBC (nd) X̱wi7x̱wa library [website]. https://xwi7xwa.library.ubc.ca/

UBC (2024) UBC X̱wi7x̱wa library. [Facebook Page]. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/xwi7xwa/

UBC @Xwi7xwaLibrary (nd.) UBC X̱wi7x̱wa library. [X page]. X. https://twitter.com/xwi7xwaLibrary/





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