My Personal Learning Network

I've been researching and learning more about building a personal learning network (PLN) the last couple of weeks. Note that it is a PERSONAL learning network; everything in your network should be personal to you. I've found that I've had one my whole life, although back then the PLN "label" didn't really exist.


My family - 1967




Girl Scout Troop - 1975












My first PLN consisted of my family, teachers, and friends. Also included in my PLN were the books, newspapers, and magazines that I read or consulted. I truly believe that books you read become a part of the way you live your life.

When I entered college, my PLN expanded into classmates, professors, content experts, and doing scholarly research.

After I began teaching, my PLN grew to include my colleagues, administrators, and subscriptions to teacher newsletters and magazines. I even contributed to a teacher magazine in which I was published!

As the internet expanded, I began to subscribe to blogs, wikis, podcasts, and newsletters to increase my knowledge base. I have created my own blogs and wikis, expanded into Twitter, social bookmarking sites, and have been giving professional development to co-workers; connecting, collaborating and creating information for others in my PLN.


My personal learning network isn't just about my profession. It also includes information about my interests such as crafting, reading, librarianship, camping, and travel.

My advice is to start developing your own PLN by watching this short video and by searching for multiple ways to increase your learning. Subscribe to blogs of your own personal interest, follow great educators on Twitter, research and share your experiences with others.

English Language Learners

From http://bit.ly/hmr6TA

I recently read this article about the implementation of ELL professional development in two of Austin, Texas' high schools. The school received extensive training and coaching from Quality Teaching for English Learners. Some of the teachers have become such experts at coaching that Austin has decided to staff the training programs with their own teachers! After two years of using the QTEL skills, the district found that it was moderately effective.

When I was working in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, I was privileged to be selected for Sheltered Instruction training through the State Department of Education. In some ways, this training transformed my teaching practice. I found the training to be timely because a child had been placed in my classroom just before Christmas and he did not speak any English. Using the Sheltered Instruction strategies I learned, I was better able to manage my new student's learning. I used the SI strategies with my whole class, and as a result, all my students' learning improved.

I highly recommend attendance at any ELL professional development you can locate. Seek it out! Tulsa Public Schools has a notable list of resources regarding ELL instruction. Take a look at the lesson plan ideas and weblinks sections.

By the way, that student who entered my room in December, speaking NO English, was reading his first Harry Potter book by April! (He was already a fluent reader in his own language, which is an advantage.) I was so proud of him!

Do you have ELL students in your classroom? What teaching strategies have you used to increase their learning capacity? Do you have any great ideas to share? Please comment!

Elizabeth Smith, Oklahoma's 2011 Teacher of the Year

I was privileged to attend Oklahoma State University's Celebration of Teachers on Monday. One of the speakers was Oklahoma's Teacher of the Year, Elizabeth Smith.

Elizabeth Smith

Elizabeth Smith is a nationally-board certified reading teacher at Byng Junior High School. She stated that she wasn't a good public speaker, but I had to disagree with her. She was quite polished and gave an excellent program. She listed several educational challenges that affect teachers:

• no money back guarantee
• discipline
• apathy
• financial issues
• pressure of testing mandates
• multiple roles
• creating a safe environment

She went on to discuss all of those topics as to how they related to her experience. She shared how a student advisory board consisting of 9th through 12th graders came up with their top 5 issues in education. The issues were bullying, funding, apathy, dropouts, and quality of education. You see, even students notice educational issues in the classroom. They know what problems exist in our schools. Ms. Smith went on to say that students are motivated by teachers who relate to them through connections, love, and inspiration. Kids don't want a perfect teacher, they just want one that can forgive, be genuine, love the unlovable, and celebrate good things. They need their teachers to motivate them, show passion in their teaching practice, be relevant, meaningful, memorable, and to unleash the potential in them.

"How can teachers accomplish all this?" you may ask. Ms. Smith asked the audience members to go back and think of the most influential teacher they had in school. Remember that teacher? How did they treat you? Why do you remember that teacher above all others? Ms. Smith asked us why that certain teacher was so influential, and stated that the teacher probably was not so important in what they taught, or how they taught, but how they treated us. She read this poem and asked if we were wreckers or builders:

Wreckers or Builders

I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.

I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled,
As the men you'd hire if you had to build?"
He gave me a laugh and said, "No indeed!
Just common labor is all I need.

I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken a year to do."
And I tho't to myself as I went my way,
Which of these two roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?

Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?

-- Unknown

I hope you are as motivated by this poem as I am, as well as by Ms. Smith's presentation. She didn't talk much about her teaching methods, but she shared her students and their stories with us. I could tell, Elizabeth Smith is a builder.

Think about your special teacher...sharing welcome!

Technology Resources - Teachers' Domain

"Teachers' Domain is a free digital media service for educational use from public broadcasting and its partners. You’ll find thousands of media resources, support materials, and tools for classroom lessons, individualized learning programs, and teacher professional learning communities".


Register on the website for brilliant resources to integrate with your curriculum, or view for your own use. You can also browse Teachers' Domain resources by your individual state educational frameworks, national standards, or by Common Core State Standards.

The website features videos from Frontline and Nova, along with other PBS educational media.

Two thumbs UP!

Management Monday III – Cushioning

The rationale behind cushioning is to reduce student worries related to learning and to produce confident, dynamic learners. The strategy involves the teacher reinforcing the notions that everybody makes mistakes and everyone needs time to think and learn. To do that you need to remind students of those notions and discuss how people learn. Cushioning is most effective if used frequently and especially before students are asked to participate in a class discussion or learning activity.

You may have signs posted in your room stating that “everybody makes mistakes” or “everyone needs time to think and learn.” Signs are only the first step in a process of reducing learning anxieties and creating confidence in learners. Teachers must be reminiscent and support those statements throughout the day.

Reminding students at the beginning of a lesson that they can learn from mistakes and no one will be judgmental of any statements that come out of the lesson will minimize their discomfort and fear of making mistakes.

Cushioning during the lesson is useful in guiding student learning through questioning techniques. For example, if a student answers a question and the answer is not quite correct, using guided questioning will help the student “save face” and continue to learn without embarrassment.

Support students with statements such as “you can learn more when you help each other,” and “you can accept and support one another’s learning by letting others have time to think.” Share with students the different ways people learn. Let them know that their way is okay and that other students should respect their learning style.

Management Monday II – Sign Language

Since I began teaching over 20 years ago, I have taught my students the American Sign Language alphabet. They practiced their spelling words with it in centers, we spelled things together to practice, and I even caught one of my students cheating in the school spelling bee when his friend was up to spell a word! Oops!

After they learned the ASL alphabet, the students clamored for more. I found that teaching them certain signs was very helpful in classroom management. Instead of someone interrupting me when I was working with a small group or grading papers or doing other paperwork while students were having inside recess, I would have them raise their hand and show me the sign for which activity they needed to do. I taught them “restroom,” “yes,”, “no,” “wait,”, and many more as they indicated interest. We didn’t have videos back then, but I had a book that showed the actions and it was the most checked-out book in my small classroom library for many years. One year for a talent show, I taught my class the sign language for the chorus to the song “Angels Among Us.” We sang the song, did the signs, and had a slide show of pictures of the teachers and staff of our school on the projector screen. There weren’t any dry eyes after that!

Now that the internet is readily available, you can find many websites that offer short video clips of signs. You can also find free worksheets and activities to help teach your children sign language. My daughter is teaching my grandson a few words now and he is just about 15 months old! Get them hooked when they are young, make sure you use it in class, and they won’t ever forget it.

Here is the list of websites I found useful:
http://www.aslpro.com/
http://aslbrowser.commtechlab.msu.edu/index.html
http://www.lifeprint.com/

I hope you find ASL to be a useful tool in classroom management and just for fun with your students!

Truth Tuesday I

“Truths” are quotes or statements that I sincerely believe and adhere to. They aren’t really rules, like “Respect others”; they are just simple truths about living and learning. I love the book of Proverbs, so there may be some of those here in the future. I also found a lot of these “truths” in a book called Inspiring Discipline, A Practical Guide for Today’s Classrooms by Merrill Harmin. The book is over 15 years old, but these truth statements will always be true and used in a classroom with kids, will be effective in helping them to learn how to live and work peacefully together or alone. I have some of these statements posted in my office, to remind myself to be patient with myself and others, and to be courageous and peaceful.

Everyone needs time to think and learn.

Powerful. Potent. Compelling. I am typically impatient with myself when I don’t immediately understand and learn something new. It is frustrating! I just need to remember this particular truth!

The world now is seeking immediacy in everything; fast food, faster internet, instant messaging, etc. When we hear something or try to learn something new, it takes a moment to process through our brain. For example, if I said “I want to live in Italy”, it would take you a few moments to really think about what that entails: how would I get there, how much does it cost, why, when will you go, what would you do there, where would you live, and so on.

In the classroom you could read this truth statement and discuss with students what they think it means. Ask questions about how long it takes to learn a new skill – tell a story about when you had to take a long time to learn something new. Post a sign with this statement to help students to remind themselves to give it time when they want to learn something new. There’s no need to rush. Why? Because, as the sign says, everyone needs time to think and learn.