Section 1 - Thought Leadership Goals. Description of your current or planned professional area of expertise and influence, and your goals for establishing your web presence for thought leadership in that area.
 

My area of expertise is teaching social studies- more specifically, US history. I have had experience teaching world geography, world history, and US history both for Beginning-Reconstruction and Reconstruction-Modern day. I have spent more time building curriculum around United States history, and feel extremely confident in my abilities to develop strong, relevant lessons that adhere to the Common Core. This expertise is also derived from a strong passion for historical knowledge, paired with the ability to travel and experience the history in person. For example, United States history distinctly stands out to me, because I can travel to the places and regions and visit the history in person. I love being able to see the history that I read and learn about in books come to life. It started off with a childhood visit to the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. I remember learning all about the famous Battle of the Alamo, watching movies, hearing the legends about it. Seeing it in person sparked this irreplaceable feeling in me. Many years later, in college, I had the opportunity to witness a reenactment of the Battle and felt that spark again. In my teaching career, I have taught a significant age range: thirteen year olds all the way to eighteen and nineteen year olds. In addition, I have not only taught on level education, but special education as well. Through this, I developed a deep understanding of differentiation and how to adapt lessons to any level. On that note, I have also served low income populations at two different Title I schools that have been majority Hispanic students. By teaching at these schools, I gained the skill of utilizing data to inform my instruction. Often times, I had to translate entire lessons into Spanish for newcomers coming directly from Mexico. My current population of students are mostly English Second Language students, and have a wide variety in their reading levels. Many of them still read at a first grade level, while I have a handful who are advanced and reading at a high school level. I feel as if this strong background in supporting underserved populations and students with very different cultures has allowed me to grow substantially as a teacher, and that I have something to share with other teachers in my situation.

 

In the past, history was taught at a focus more of memorizing dates and battles. I have made huge strides within my own thought to switch from the way history was taught in the past. Today, I closely align my social studies classes to my students’ Language Arts classes. Afterall, we are both humanities courses. Throughout this program, I have also come to incorporate Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into my curriculum, and continue to see countless articles that state how beneficial this is for kids. On top of that, I feel as if this is even more significant for economically disadvantaged students. Too frequently, they are expected to help more than the average child at home and aren’t given the chance to process their emotions. On the other side, many of them are left home alone without parental supervision for extended amounts of times due to their parents trying to simply get by. Incorporating things like mindfulness in my weekly routine has led to a huge change in my students behavior. By creating a web presence, I hope to reach other teachers who serve similar populations and help them grow and understand our kids. In other words, I will be a source for differentiation and Social Emotional Learning for fellow inner city secondary teachers or teachers in general.

 

 

 

Section 2 - Description of your Personal / Professional Learning Network (PLN). Describe your personal / professional learning network(PLN) -- your tribe/s -- and how you will use your PLN to help you address your thought leadership goals. Related, describe the current social networking and media tools and spaces you use (and plan to use) to support your thought leadership goals, and how you are using those resources.

 

My personal and professional learning network primarily starts with my basecamp website https://amandaehynson.wixsite.com/website. This site has been essential for me to blog about various topics within the educational field and technology. Another important resource for my professional network is the social media groups dedicated to Social Emotional Learning. I’m involved in Google+ Communities, Facebook groups, Linkedin Groups, and my own Pinterest page dedicated to Social Emotional Learning.

 

In addition, I’m able to demonstrate my various talents that I’ve gained through this program as far as utilizing technology within my classroom and the world. It gives me a place to clearly communicate my educational philosophies and beliefs, while advertising my potential as a teacher within different communities. It essentially is a one stop shop to learn about how I have been growing as a teacher and would be a highly valuable tool within a school. I have linked it to various social media websites as well to ensure transparency and availability. YouTube has been a major contributor to both my personal and professional learning network. For example, I taught myself how to knit solely via YouTube. My grandmother attempted to teach me for years as a child, and of course I was too busy to sit down and do this. However, after she passed, I decided I finally wanted to learn in honor of her. I went to the store, bought some needles and yarn, and came back home and watched YouTube videos. Since then, I have knit countless scarves for friends and family. In addition, I have used YouTube to refresh myself on what topic I'm about to teach. I also have used it continue my professional growth- I frequently look for education videos or videos on how to help a specific group of students like ELL's. I love Ted talks and try to watch all of the talks that have to do with education. Pinterest has been the MVP for my teaching career and personal life. This site has helped me in countless situations- it has great professional learning for educators, amazing lesson plans and activities if your in a pinch, and an endless supply of personal options. It goes without saying that Linked in caters more to the professional side of things. It has been an essential tool in making sure that I stay connected with former employers and coworkers. In addition, it allows me to demonstrate to potential employers my abilities that are supported by reputable people.

 

In order to achieve my goal, I will continue to market my various social medias and professional learning networks to reach my target audience. The social media resources that I addressed are key to putting this information out there in addition to Facebook, Google+ Communities, Linkedin, etc.

 

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Section 3 - Role of Base Camp Site and Networked Learning Space (NLS). Describe the role your base camp site -- including your blog -- and networked learning space has and will have in realizing your thought leadership goals.

 

The role of the Base Camp Site and Networked Learning Space has allowed me to organize and demonstrate my experience in a professional setting while maintaining a personal touch. The Base Camp is about me and for me- where I am able to show my skills and passion for my teaching career. It is providing a professional space for me to network with my peers in any part of the country and world. Through my tribe websites and Base Camp, I am hoping to reach people within my own school and community as well. Not only to share my own experience and knowledge, but to have discussions and build myself even more as a teacher in the areas I want to grow in.

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Section 4 - Strategic Plan for Establishing Web Presence. Describe your plan for establishing web presence in support of your PLN and thought leadership goals, specifically explaining how you will achieve the six SEO strategies described in Lowenthal and Dunlap’s ten strategies for SEO

 

My plan to establish a web presence in support of my Professional Learning Network and thought leadership goals consists of strategies that would allow for search engine optimization (SEO). In the article, Lowenthal and Dunlap’s ten strategies for SEO (Lowenthal and Dunlap, 2012), offers several steps to take in order to market yourself. The first step includes creating a professional website- this would be my basecamp. Next, the reader is encouraged to regularly update the website, particularly through a blog. This blog is already located within my basecamp site and is titled “Thoughts From the Trenches.” The idea behind this is the more frequently you demonstrate you are utilizing the site and keeping up with it, the more likely readers are likely to continue coming back since they know you are reliably maintaining it. I’ve also toyed with the idea of including a teacher life documentary style blog. I would essentially communicate all of the demands that a teacher in the 21st century has put on them. On top of providing curriculum, creating innovating lessons, filling out paperwork for IEPs, 504’s, etc, discipline issues, duties outside of the classroom, professional development, meetings, incorporating technology into the classroom, grading, analyzing data to inform teaching, providing individualized feedback to students, extending a shoulder for your students to cry on, being a punching bag when they are having a bad day, etc.

 

Another significant boost to my SEO would be from simply tracking the traffic I’m receiving on my website. This is pretty similar to what I do with tracking data on my students. I would essentially follow it extremely close after implementing a new strategy and use the data I see after that to inform myself whether or not this strategy was successful or not. I could in turn further diagnose why or why not it was successful, and slightly tweak it or simply move on to a different strategy. The fifth strategy is a tool I have used and found to be extremely helpful- simply by sharing my professional website on social media such as Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, Facebook, and Google+ Communities, I was able to witness an influx in traffic following shortly after. Another method for search engine optimization consists of knowing your audience and leveraging social media. Specific fields tend to favor or utilize specific social media more frequently, and being aware of this could help me break into the field faster.

 

The seventh piece of advice advocates for being a good user of other people’s content. This goes along with the “you scratch my back, I scratch your back” mentality. If you are providing assistance through feedback to peers in your community, they are going to want to repay the favor. In addition, providing access to any material, articles, information, etc to others in the field establish a sense of community and support. The eighth and final tool I will utilize is ensuring that my profiles on all social media websites are complete. Allowing people to view me as a whole person can boost my credibility and range.

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Section 5 - Description of Privacy Concerns and Strategies. Describe the privacy issues of personal concern and your strategies for protecting what you wish to protect while still participating in and contributing to the online professional community of practice.

 

While transitioning to an online presence could be extremely beneficial professionally, there are always concerns of putting too much information into the world and that affecting my personal life. Being a teacher, I feel as if my private life needs to stay somewhat private. I’m more than happy to share information about my life with my students, but prefer it to be something they hear directly from me that I’m actively choosing to share with them as opposed to them finding something online that I was unaware about. My strategy to protect my personal life mostly consists of playing it safe and smart. I’m highly aware of what I’m posting and typically make sure it is appropriate. In addition, frequently checking the web with my name to ensure that I’m aware of anything that is out there.

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Section 6 - Next Steps with Social Networking / Media. Describe what you plan to do in the future to further use social media and networking in support of your PLN and to help you establish yourself as a thought leader. Also, share what social media and networking you are going to try out in future, and why.

 

I plan on continuing to be active and engage in discussions within various social media websites. For example, the Social Emotional Learning Facebook group that I am apart of constantly has updated articles and I’m frequently reading through those to see how else I can incorporate social emotional learning into my classroom. I also continue to add on more resources for my students and expand my website for them (www.mshynson.weebly.com). Through my weebly website, I have been able to communicate with parents who speak both English and Spanish. I put our daily agendas with links to electronic copies of anything we might be using in class. These documents are provided in both English and Spanish. The agenda is also specifically translated to Spanish, so that Spanish speaking parents are able to see what we are doing in class and access the material. I’m hoping to expand this and have a blog there for parents discussing more of what we are doing in the classroom in a more casual method. In addition, I was inspired by an old college friend who is also a social studies teacher- she has an instagram dedicated to her students where she gives shoutouts to students, highlights excellent work, shares reminders, and creates a personal bond. I am hoping to have something like that next year. I attempted to use Twitter in a similar fashion earlier this year, but admitted defeat after finding that I’m not a huge fan of Twitter. However, I do enjoy Instagram and am excited to dive into that initiative.

 

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References

Lowenthal, P. R., & Dunlap, J. C. (2012, June 5). Intentional Web Presence: 10 SEO Strategies Every Academic Needs to Know. Retrieved April 23, 2018, from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2012/6/intentional-web-presence-10-seo-strategies-every-academic-needs-to-know