The other day on Twitter I noticed I had a message from @mobbsey, an avid edublogger from Australia.  She had tagged me as one of the seven people in her PLN that she wanted to know more about. Nic Mobbs is a lot like me. We both share a passion for getting more teachers to use technology effectively in the classroom and we both resent working in environments that are over filtered. But what do we know about each other beyond each others blogs and tweets? Not much until she responded to a request from someone to write a blog post listing seven things about herself. Chances are that we will never get to meet those people who comprise our PLN. I’d like to take this opportunity to share seven things about myself that might help you relate to me on a personal level. While it is impossible (and possibly counterproductive) to get to know all of the people in our PLN’s, it is nice to know a little bit more about some of the people who have an impact on us.

1. I grew up as an Air Force brat. I lived in Germany, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida before I moved to Wyoming to attend college. I have an Associate’s degree in Veterinary Technology. Now I call western Nebraska home.
2. I am an only child. (yes, I know. That explains a lot.)
3. I was lonely growing up. Being an only child is not very much fun which is why I wanted to have at least two kids. My husband and I have two beautiful girls………our family is complete.
4. I graduated from high school in Tampa, Florida in 1992. I HATED history class so I skipped whenever I could. It was not until I was 22 years old that I realized that I had cheated myself out of an education. So I went back to college and decided to become a history teacher!
5. I have three dogs. Libby is a Bassett Hound, Ruger is a Black Lab, and Winston is a Scottish Terrier.
6. If I could do it all over again I’d live in Italy (Florence or Rome) and study art history. I’d also spend a lot of time in Tuscany. That is the absolute most romantic location on the earth!
7. Things I LOVE: Texas-style BBQ, Mexican food, 80’s and early 90’s music. I have been known to sing at the top of my lungs while listening to NSync while working out. (I have never done this at the gym—-just at home on my Elliptical!)

To stick with the original invitation I am only going to tag seven people, however I invite anyone who reads this to comment. I am going to repost this on @mobbsey’s blog as well.

Invites sent to the following people in my PLN:

• @oswego98 I love your enthusiasm for learning new things.
• @rmbyrne You have provided me with some excellent resources.
• @karlfisch You have a brilliant mind. Did You Know had a huge impact on me.
• @darlingawe I feel like I already know you because @craighicks talks about you all of the time!
• @dstall I really want to get to know some of my colleagues in eastern Nebraska.
• @npratt When I met you in Texas I felt like I was meeting a long lost friend! I still don’t know much about you outside of school stuff.
• @mrplough07 You went from being my virtual mentor to friend. I know there is still lots to learn about you.

A few months ago I got a tip about a new calling service called Phonevite. Fellow online teacher and edublogger, Cory Plough sent out a tweet about how this tool allowed him to contact multiple students at a time. I wanted to learn more so I signed up for an account.

Like most applications there is a free version and a paid version. The free version limits the user to 25 calls at a time. No big deal unless you have hundreds of students!

The first step is to sign up for an account. Make sure you have immediate access to the phone number from which you wish to send your messages from. Next you need to add phone numbers of the people that you would like to send messages to. I have added students and parents. (You might not want to send Phonevites to parents at work since the calls are automated.)

Phonevite allows you to record your message on a phone or directly on your computer. You can send the message right away or set it to go out at some time in the future. I think the best feature is the ability to ask the recipient to record a message at the end of the recording. The message goes directly to your Phonevite account.

You can also see which called have been successful and how long the called listened to the message. If any calls were unsuccessful you have the option to send them again.

I have used Phonevite to remind students and parents about important dates like parent teacher conferences. We will also use it at my school to send messages to students if school is cancelled. (We only have 40 students.) I will use it sparingly so it does not lose its effectiveness. Afterall, students don’t like it when we nag them!