I wanted to reply to something you said about Google+ in your last note: "I do like the format of google+ as well. Too bad it never caught on."
I felt that frustration for nearly an entire year after signing on to Google+. I was originally drawn to and enthusiastic about its design, the easy management of separate relationships, the easy control of privacy, and what struck me as a more aesthetically sensitive design (as opposed to Facebook, which I had never joined). Then I began to feel as if I were the only one subscribing. Almost no one I knew had signed on. I even wrote to a friend that I felt "lonely out here in Googleland." In the last six months or so, however, I've begun to change my mind. Google+ doesn't seem to have caught on as a social networking tool, but it seems to have a steadily growing population of subscribers who are interested in professional and personal interest networking. To see what I mean, you should roll your cursor over the g+ at the top left of your screen, and then click on Communities. I think you might be surprised at what all is out there. You can search your areas of interest, and the options will be more than you might have expected. And some of those communities are very active.
But be a little patient. I first joined an English Teachers community (there are many). It seemed like a cool idea. Unfortunately, hardly anyone ever seemed to post anything on the community site, adding to the frustration I mentioned above. I even made a couple of posts myself as a newbie to see if I could get something started. Each only received one response, and weeks went by without another post from anyone else. So I continued my search.
I'm presently a member of two very active Google+ Community sites, one on the Common Core and the other an English Teachers Support Group. Both are very active (the teacher group has slowed down just a little for the summer, which makes sense), and both continue to have growing memberships. Between you and me, I haven't really found the collegial connections and support I might have hoped for at my school. Perhaps it's because I'm older by a bit than pretty much everyone else in the department (but I'm 50; it's not like I'm nearing retirement). I certainly feel no animosity toward any of my colleagues, and I'm willing to accept that the absence of connection is my own responsibility; nevertheless, I've felt that void in my professional life.
Then, some months ago when I was following a Twitter conversation on 21st century ed, I began to think more about the idea of an online PLN as actually a better way to create a community of support by finding those you may never really know but who think and write in ways that are professionally helpful to you. I'm beginning to find that now on Google+, and I continue to appreciate these communities of people whose voices and thoughts I've begun to recognize as those of colleagues.
So here I am, proselytizing. I suppose I probably have the hidden agenda of hoping to meet or hear from more people I actually do know in the communities of interest we may share.
