Importance of Community

I was reflecting on the idea of community and came across the following article that I found thought provoking:

https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/November-2019/The-Importance-of-Community-and-Mental-Health

For me, community is made up of two main components: commonality and network.

When I think of a community, I think of a unit that helps to promote or support a common goal. The unit itself is fluid. What I mean by that is we flow into and out of communities at different stages in our life. We are a part of many communities in our personal, educational, spiritual, and professional lives.

Humans naturally have a desire to belong and feel accepted. That feeling of belonging to a community is essential to mental health. Being part of a community allows us to be a part of something bigger and often times more important than ourselves.

Currently Reading: Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
#2020readingchallenge

Using Twitter to Create a Professional Learning Network

I joined Twitter on January 21, 2020. You can find me @PheonixLongana

Twitter is a great place to be able to follow others,learn about resources, and build community. You can sit back and watch or join in on Twitter Chats - both can be valuable learning opportunities. 

I began my Twitter journey by searching for organizations I connect with professionally and creating a sort of Professional Learning Network (PLN). I followed some organizations for communication specialists and looked to who they were following. I noted who is more active on Twitter and who provides resources to other professionals and began following them too. One of the biggest advantages of creating a PLN for me are the cognitive benefits ( explain a bit more below). They are tremendous to increasing my creativity at work.

I also began following other areas of interest; inspirational accounts, brand accounts, informational accounts…My feed quickly became overwhelming. Time to problem solve this so I looked into using Lists.

One of my favorite tools that Twitter provides in keeping feeds organized is the Lists feature. You can create your own lists and have them public or private. You can subscribe to other public lists as well. By creating a list, you can group Twitter users together based on common ground and this helps me to avoid the overwhelming feeling I get when looking at my raw news feed on Twitter. I created a couple of private lists and subscribed to a couple of public ones.

Once the users are grouped and added to a list, I can view that list and concentrate on a single subject matter – or at the very least narrow it down to common ground. 

One of the most helpful lists that I am subscribed to is #schoolPR. The members of this list have been active in Twitter Chats using #k12prchat and many are influencers in my field of work. Below is a snapshot of some of the lists I am subscribed to.

Screenshot of my subscribed Twitter Lists
(https://twitter.com/PheonixLongana/lists/subscriptions)

I am able to use these lists to focus my feed and learn about new tools and resources that others are using. I get to have an inside view of what other professionals are involved with in their schools or how they are handling different types of communications. I can get ideas from what they are implementing and see if I could tweek the promotions to work for my communications. These are the cognitive benefits that help push my creativity to further limits.

Are you on Twitter? What are your favorite accounts to follow? Do you have a PLN? 

Let me know by commenting below.

Currently Reading: The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

#2020readingchallenge

Who am I?

Longana, Pheonix "Painting of Mermaid"

image property of blog author

Pheonix: In Ancient Greek folklore, a phoenix is a long-lived bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. (Wikipedia)

Longana: A legendary female aquatic creature depicted as intelligent and beautiful with inferior limbs of a goat. The Longana appear in legends of the people living in Cadore, Italy. (Wikipedia, Europe is not Dead)

Who am I?

I am a woman who is working to create a better life for herself and her children.

I am a single mother of two beautiful - intelligent daughters. I strive to be the best role model for them.

I am a student. I have returned to school to obtain my Masters to further my career.

I am an artist. I am lucky enough to be able to use my creativity in my job – at least digitally.

I am a woman rising from the ashes of a domestic abuse marriage. Silent for so long – I will be using this platform to push myself in continuous improvement.