Personal Learning Network, or PLN

Since networking is one of the most important things in any profession, it was no surprise that developing my own Personal Learning Network, or PLN, was an assignment for my Integrating Technology into the Curriculum class.

The concept of using Twitter as a PLN tool in education was new to me. My experience with Twitter up to this point was either reading Twitter headlines on my smart phone, or tweeting marketing announcements in my prior business life.

Since I don't have a classroom of my own yet, I am of "new teacher" status and want to pick up any tips and tricks I can. When I searched #ntchat (new teacher chat) I found a post by Jessica Lahey who wrote about Three Things Students Wish Teachers Knew, for the New Yrok Times. Jessica summarizes the result of her poll:

"... So there you have it teachers of America: Be fair, consider your homework assignments carefully and with an eye to utility, and treat sutdents like people ..."

Next, I was ready to tackle participating in an #edchat. A edchat is a weekly scheduled conversation (chat), via Twitter that focuses on the topic of education. The chat I joined was #nt2t (new teacher to Twitter). I participated using TWUBS. I have no idea what it stands for. TWitter U Be Smart? Not really, but that's how I remember it. The best part of using TWUBS is that the chat stream can be slowed down or sped up. Try a #chat yourself and you'll see exactly why this is important.

The contributors shared many useful insights and links. When something looked interesting to me I "favorited" it, which saves the original tweet for future reference. There were several questions about how to use Twitter, so I posted a link to Dummies Twitter Cheat Sheet and it was favorited! Since I used Google link shortener I can see that, to date, that link was clicked 17 times. How's that for positive reinforcement?

Of the many education resources I found on Twitter, I found a post on the chat, #sped, that caught my attention from Linda Lighter @LisaLightnerll who is an advocate for special needs. She addressed the issue of students being sent home for behavior. In special ed, behavior is of special interest to me, so I'm glad I found her blog from #sped as a resource.

#sped chat on TWUBS

There is so much information out there, it takes awareness and intention when developing and using a PLN. Otherwise, you may find yourself quoting actress Betty White from Saturday Night Live in 2010. She was talking about Facebook, but any social media can be inserted here:

“I really have to thank Facebook. When I first heard about the campaign to get me to host Saturday Night Live, I didn’t know what facebook was and now that I do know what it is, I have to say it sounds like a huge waste of time” -Betty White

Betty White has been on Twitter since 2012 and her last post was May 30th: The Official Twitter Page of Betty White. I think it's important to keep a sense of humor in life. So here is a link to some fun Betty White quotes.

Tech-Tac-Toe ... Tagxedo Word Clouds

I used Tagxedo word clouds for learning vocabulary words. The topic I chose was the News2You  weekly topic, which was the 2014 World Cup that will be held in Brazil. News2You is an online newspaper for Special Education, in this case, a high school Transitional Life Skills class. 

In addition to the usual worksheets and activities that accompany vocabulary, using a word cloud gives students extra practice with their their typing, spelling, keyboarding, and computer skills. Not to mention the sense of accomplishment!

Personal Tagxedo with Vocabulary Words

Tagxedo is free and can be found at www.tagxedo.com. I found this tool much easier to use over Wordle, which I thought was the only game in town for word clouds. The other tool I looked at was Tagul, and it looked promising as well. What Tagxedo offers is a user-friendly interface and plenty of examples. Once the words are entered, click "Create", and the tool walks you right through the process. After clicking "Submit", the cloud is ready for personalization with color, font, and shape options.

I was thrilled at how easy it was to save the Tagxedo in any number of sizes and formats. Once saved, it can be printed or shared just like any other jpg.

Personal copy of Tagxedo word cloud.

Once again, I was reminded that when a learning activity is put into motion, the creative thought process for students and teachers kicks into gear. As you can imagine, the students did not need much encouragement to play around with colors, fonts, and shapes. Some of the students that I didn't think would be able to follow the instructions really surprised me. No doubt, a lot of instruction is needed for this audience, but  I see this is an opportunity to encourage student helping student.

 Take a look at a Tagxedo a student put together. Emma happens to like music and the color pink.

Personal copy of Tagxedo word cloud.

Another creative tool to be on the look-out for is "Poligonian". I found this after I visited Tagxedo's Facebook page. Poligonian is in beta, and only works with a Chrome browser. If you check it out, be sure to scroll down and look at all the images. Amazing.

All about me ...

Me with Ginger

Hello – my name is Mary Valenta and always considered myself a reluctant social media person, at least for my personal life. As everyone seemed to be obsessed with it, I would try it and then completely lose track of time with nothing to show for it. And now I’m starting a blog!?

This blog is for one of my courses as a graduate student at Dominican University on my way to becoming a teacher. Ironically, the course is "Integrating Technology into the Curriculum." I'm changing careers from the business world.  My passion for teaching finally won out – somewhat stubbornly.

I’ve been surrounded by teachers all my life. First as a student myself. Then as a parent of two girls. My oldest was born with Chromosome 18q – Syndrome. That meant early intervention (and teachers) when she was only 14 months old. Yikes! Less than two months after that, my second daughter was born. Yikes again!! It was like having twins.

My daughters - personal photo

It’s been quite a ride, with all the highs, lows, and unexpected turns of a roller coaster. Now, the roller coaster is pretty much on auto pilot as hey are both mastering independence. Who knew? I could have never predicted this outcome.

I have five siblings. My two sisters are both in education – one started teaching art and the other special education. Guess who I leaned on the most? Yep, the “Special Ed” sister for many years. In fact, I wore out my welcome – she had to practice some tough love on me. She actually fired me! How does that happen? Well, it was one of the best things she ever did … I had to hear the words “you don’t need me for all this Mary, you have the answers yourself. At this point, you know this stuff better than I do.”

It turns out she was right. Now I see that I actually do know more than I ever gave myself credit for, at least in this one small niche of parenting and special ed that I’ve been living in.

I still have an interest in the world of sales and marketing that I worked in for so many years. I will always use my creative thinking and selling skills in one way or another. Believe it or not, it was those very skills that helped my parenting. After all, who is our toughest customer if not our own children?