Thing #22: Nings

Ning is a social networking tool that can allow users to create a place to meet with people of common interests. As teachers we can create a Ning page for teachers of our same grade level, same school, or a special group or club. A school can also create a Ning to have staff members communicate on work and non-work topics. It really is a good tool for anyone with similar interests to create a virtual room to meet.
Upper grade teachers can also use Ning to create a class page to communicate and post students' work. They can provide counseling, college preparation materials, and topics of personal-interest.
During this exercise, I first looked for library-related nings that would help me in my future job as librarian. I found the Teacher Librarian Ning, which was created by Joyce Valenza and has plenty of library-related postings. Texas School Llibrarians is another good ning for librarians. Librarian 2.0 contains information, pictures, and postings that directly relate to the 2.0 concept.
As a teacher, I would like to socialize with teachers from everywhere. I found Teacher Lingo, which contains postings from teachers' blogs, lessons, and general messages for teachers. Then I found two grade specific nings. Second Grade Teachers and Second Grade Teachers' Club provide lessons and postings from other second grade teachers. These two are going to be useful during this upcoming school year.
Ning in Education is a ning with general information for the education field. And for my own pleasure, I found CakeLand.ca, which contains different cakes and baked goodies and postings from people who love to bake, just like me.