Hope this Candle Burns Bright

I have been looking for some animated gifs for my students to use on some wikis we want to begin in January. Someone on Plurk posted this link with holiday gifs and I am trying it out here to make sure it works... and it does. I am getting excited about showing these to my students.

Plurk Powwow - Text2Speech Software Solutions

For so many years I was in awe of Miguel Guhlin and his education blog. Don't get me wrong, I am still in awe but now that Miguel has embraced Plurk I get to enjoy his thought process as well as his expertise. Yesterday he was wondering on Plurk what kind of assistive technology was available for reading text to students. Miguel got so many answers to his text-to-speech question that his Plurk discussion gave him the fodder for this blog piece, check it out: Plurk Powwow - Text2Speech Software Solutions!

Walk Across America

SkipZ, a member of my Plurk Personal Learning Network, shared a link to this video. It is wonderful. After you view the Walk Across America click on the link to see how they did it. It is very inspiring. How many places can you identify in the video? How many places have you seen in the video?

Plurk This, Twitter!

I was very happy and surprised this week when I saw that Miguel Guhlin had become a fan of mine on Plurk. We follow each other on Twitter but I just recently pulled my Plurk friend request from Miguel thinking he had given up completely on Plurk. But enter Kevin Honeycutt and his presentation at TEC-SIG (Texas Computer Education Association’s conference). KevinH is my friend on Plurk. He is everyone’s friend (everyone in my PLN is a teacher or in the education field). I have never met KevinH in real life but he has met many of the people I personally know on Plurk. KevinH is a Plurk Evangelist. He speaks at many conferences and always promotes the Professional Learning Network that I am part of on Plurk. He is one of the people I ask when I need technology help. Check out Miguel’s recent blog post:

Plurk This, Twitter!

I agree with Miguel, my network on Twitter was bigger too but I was missing the personal threaded type discussions. For me it was always hit or miss on Twitter. I was on Twitter almost from the beginning and I was following so many non-educators that I was getting bogged down, then the marketers started spamming, and celebrities started racing to get the most followers. The more popular Twitter became the more I lost interest. I started to Plurk in 2008 but was not real active until a couple of educators introduced me around in their PLNs, and that was all I needed. The number of people I follow on Plurk is still not as large as those I follow on Twitter and Twitter is still my network of choice during conferences (gotta love the backchanneling that goes on at conferences) but my contacts seem more like relationships on Plurk and my Plurk PLN rocks!

Wiffiti for EduCon 2.2

Until today I had never heard of a Wiffiti. Now I am embedding the Educon 2.2 one here:

I am so excited to be going to EduCon 2.2 next weekend. I am so excited to be meeting some of the people in my Personal Learning Network (PLN). These are people that I know virtually but have not met in real life, yet I learn more from them than I do in all the professional development classes I take! Now a wiffiti... see what my PLN has to say if you can keep up, it moves a little fast for my old eyes!

3-D Hamlet targets teens

I am not sure how I feel about this but I guess if it gets more kids and teens to see, hear, read, and/or watch a Shakespeare play than it can't be bad. And if some adults that have never read the classics are drawn in, all the better! The link to this article was first shared with me on Plurk through Skip Z, a member of my Personal Learning Network (PLN), an idea teachers have borrowed from the business sector. I learn a lot on Plurk and Twitter. I think all teachers need a PLN. That is why I do social networking and why I blog. Take a look at this. The 3-D 'Hamlet' targets teens.

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F.I.N.E.

Someone in my Personal Learning Network (PLN) was complaining the other day because in response to a perfectly reasonable request his or her teenager got angry, slammed bedroom door and said, “Fine.” If you have ever heard a teenager use that word in that tone, you know that they are not using the word fine the same way you do when someone asks you how are things going and you say, “fine.” Totally different! And, leave it to the British component of my PLN to explain it the way her mother would! Not even sure which British friend it was but she said her mother defines fine as: “F.I.N.E.: fed up, insecure, “k” nackered, and emotional. And that my friend totally explains the attitude and tone of the word when it is spit in your direction! I now admit that I had no idea what “k” nackered meant, so I had to look it up myself and learned from Wiktionary that it means extremely tired or exhausted. So, now you know too. When your teen, student, child, or spouse says they are “fine.” They could mean something totally different than the word implies!

Plurk

I have been trying out Plurk again. I signed up when it first came out but I didn't get it. Then I was told that the whole idea is to get a network of people (thanks to Ginger for connecting me with like Plurkers) and it is much more fun and ideas can really be shared. I have now in the past three or four days networked with a bunch of Instructional Technology Specialists and I like it a lot. Plurk is now yet another cog in the wheel that is my Personal Learning Network (PLN). I also like that I was able to sign up on Plurk and post not only to Plurk but to Twitter and Facebook. Look for me on Plurk: http://plurk.com/congerjan/invite.