Establishing a professional learning network that allows you to always have support system of mentors at your reach is a vital part of getting through your first year of teaching.

Veteran educator Bill Ferriter has put together a list for one of his teacher friends and the rest of the teaching community to follow as a starting point “for swimming in the digital soup” in his post on the Center for Teaching Quality blog.

For individual teachers, Ferriter says new teachers should follow Pernille Ripp, Richard Byrne and John Spencer.

John Spencer has been a middle school teacher for eleven years and now is professor of instructional technology. Ferriter says Spencer inspires him and others to “wrestle with bigger ideas and trends beyond the classroom.”

Pernille Ripp is known by Ferriter as “an expert on classroom blogging,” and helps fellow peers devise strategies for “structuring healthy classroom environments,” empowering students and using practical ideas when working with students.

Richard Byrne is for the new teacher looking to weed through the massive amount of classroom technologies out there and figure out the best way to implement them.

"The short, tool-centric bits on his Free Tech for Teachers site spotlight new services worth exploring OR new applications for existing tools that I'd never considered. He's a amazing curator of #edtech content -- and that curation saves me time,” Ferriter says.

As for websites, Ferriter recommends new teachers look to MiddleWeb and Mindshift KQED.

MiddleWeb is a website designed to guide rookie teachers and helps them address the early challenges they will experience early in their career, he says.

Mindshift KQED is important for new teachers because it regularly addresses and analyzes the fundamentals of the profession.

"On any given day, you'll find bits challenging grading practices or spotlighting practitioners who are reimagining learning one lesson at a time. It's good stuff that will resonate with any teacher who knows that our schools need to change in order to better serve modern learners,” Ferriter says.

Read Ferriter’s full post here.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

11/11/2015