To be honest, some of the best information I found wasn't really about teaching in and of itself, but more on how to pass the Physics CSET. I want to have job security so I am going to attempt this test over the summer, but my physics is rusty. The PLN I joined had a lot of helpful threads from people who have taken and passed the exam. Many listed the study materials they felt were essential. I haven't really had time to contribute but I found the Chemistry and Biology exams very easy so maybe in the future I can add some helpful hints and tips for others trying to pass those two exams.
There are a number of great threads on teaching as well, some of which I have browsed. To be honest, time is just a major factor for me and I just don't have a whole lot of time to communicate this way. I do most of my professional development with my colleagues at my school site. If I want to advice or want to try something new I usually just Google something like, "hands-on method of teaching stoichiometry" or "inquiry-based lab on chemical bonding" and get a lot of great stuff. While I think the PLN I joined is great, it isn't easy to hop-on, login and communicate when you are pressed for time. I think it would be kind of cool if they had a app that allowed you to easily browse the forums on your mobile phone, but that doesn't exist as of this posting.
As far as Twitter goes, I really didn't use it. I don't like it and don't ever see myself trying this. I prefer Remind101 to send messages to students and parents. The only downside is they can't respond to you directly through text, but in my opinion that isn't really a bad thing; I don't want to receive text messages from my students or their parents at any time throughout the day. My email is available on my website so they can always contact me that way.
The RSS feed, to be honest, wasn't all that helpful for me, I just didn't have time to log-in and read up on stuff. While I think it is nice to have all of your feeds in one spot, I'd rather just visit the sites themselves if I was interested. The Mac has an OS X app called caffeinated that is essentially an RSS feeder that I might try at some point later on. Most of the stuff I was sent through the RSS feed was from Nat Geo and it was interesting, but I just didn't find it all that useful.
The blog I thought could be implemented into my class and I might try it if I could find a "safe" way of doing it. I am always worried about student content going live because I don't have complete control over it and I don't have the time to monitor everything students say. While I didn't share this blog with students I often find myself doing or experiencing something in daily life and thinking it would be a great example to share with my students (typically about science or Chemistry specifically). I might start a part of my webpage as a blog where I can write about how science is found in everyday life/things and allow the students to read and comment on it. I would like to have the students do something similar, maybe as an extra credit project. Again, my only reservation is having them do it online, I don't trust all of my students to behave appropriately and I don't want to have the blame put on me for something they do or say. If I could find a safe way of implementing student blogs that didn't require me to monitor everything, I would probably implement this.
Website with Labs and Book Assignments:
http://www.csupomona.edu/~rrgarcia/Labs.html
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