PLNs are Yoga of the Mind

I find myself getting up earlier every day, which didn’t seem possible since I get up already at 4 am to workout.  Recently, I decided I didn’t need to intense workout sessions everyday, so I practice yoga for about 40-45 minutes before the onslaught of 4 breakfasts and 4 lunches and sometimes starting crockpot dinner.  I get up and check my work email because that’s where all my wordpress subscriptions come to and then, on to Twitter.

Today, I got up and read a number of posts, retweeting them, as usual.  On my Twitter feed, up jumps a new tag #b4530.  Oh, I gasp.  Oh, I don’t even need a translator…a new PLN on my time.   Nothing but my sweet new little laptop, the silence of the sleeping house and the gentle mew or hiss of the cats as the come in and out and in and out while our sweet old little Sheltie sits next to me patiently waiting to take her spot on the yoga mat.   You mean there are actually more people like me?

Fast forward to 445, as I am present in the moment of yoga following my PLN encounter, and as usual, I attempt to imprint that that moment of clarity into my heart and mind and bring it into my teaching day, somewhere.  What a strange new world we live in!  I feel so isolated in my day-to-day teaching practices in a school that hasn’t quite caught up to the moving-at-the-speed-of-light common core (and all the questions and battles being raised and fought over accountability), but I feel even more connected and quite fierce with the conversations and the learning from PLNs.  Oh, the ideas, the community, the (let’s be frank) nerdiness!  I absolutely love it and now I can get it at #b4530!  Just like yoga connects me with my day and arms me to be Reading Teacher Extraordinaire, so too do PLN’s discussions and provocative content.