Rhymes with P and That Stands For...PLN

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Shortly after EdCamp NYC, Hadley wrote a great recap of the day on her blog post, Saturdays for Learning. Towards the end of the post, Hadley described the event this way:

Each new session was filled with teachers and administrators who wanted to grow, who wanted to share their best practices and find solutions to their doldrums. These were teachers who willingly gave up their off-duty time to come together. They were often people who considered the others there part of their PLN, their Personal or Professional or Passionate Learning Network. 

In the comments, I wrote:

I love the idea of changing my P in PLN...  Thank you for posting your thoughts about a great day.

In the week since, I have been thinking about the P in PLN. I like Personal, but maybe there is a better P. Hadley's suggestion of Professional is good, but feels somewhat cold. Passionate is a good choice but may be too hot (temperature not withstanding, I like the word passionate as a descriptor of an educator. When I hire, I look for signs of passion as much as specific teaching skills. Angela Maiers and Amy Sandvold have lots to say about Passion in education). 

There are so many great adjectives that start with P, I had to consider them all. First I list several candidates.

• Parallel - not only parallel learning, also synchronous and asynchronous;
• Perfect - I'd love to claim that my PLN is perfect but my wife isn't part of it;
• Peppy - sometimes, the PLN provides some pep as there are lots of very Positive folks;
• Perky - I'm not looking to describe a dog or a hairdo, also see peppy;
• Partial - OK, this works because the Network will never be complete as I mix online and F2F; 

• Participatory - Oooh. This is good. Those who only lurk in the PLN will not learn enough. Must share;
• Plausible - and so easy to get started (see links below for ways to start a PLN) ;
• Patient - Lucky for me, my PLN has many patient people (esp. Connected Principals George and Lyn when it comes to adding pics);
• Powerful - Well, obviously. A PLN is able to leap tall buildings and lift enormous stuff. And totally, radically change the thinking of so many educators;
• Peaceful - Not sure how this applies, but I couldn’t put it in the next list;

• Personable - My PLN has been very friendly to me;
• Playful - Lots of laughs among the serious tweets and articles. Must laugh or die;
• Poignant - Totally. Just the other day, a blog post from within my PLN brought me to tears (manly tears, of course);
• Popular - It is all about how many followers we each have, right?
• Precious & priceless - My PLN is worth its weight in gold (or some Pithy saying like that).

Of course, there are many P words that don't even come close. However, since many are funny to contemplate, I have listed a bunch here:

• Prejudiced, 
• Painful, 
• Prying, 
• Palatial, 
• Polite, 
• Paleo (?!), 

• Palatable, 
• Papery - Duh, it is all electronic, 
• Paradisal, 
• Paradoxical, 
• Parental, 
• Parisian - Ooh La La, 

• Parochial - Au contraire, 
• Perilous, 
• Patriotic, 
• Parsleyed - or served with a nice Chianti,
• Pareve - for those who keep kosher among us, 
• Passable, 
• Passé - maybe some day we will look back at our PLN and chuckle, but not now,

• Passive, 
• Pastoral, 
• Pasty - from too much late night blogging and not enough sun?, 
• Paternal, 
• Pathogenic - I hope I don't catch anything from my PLN, 
• Pretty, 

• Proficient, 
• Prominent, 
• Proper, 
• Prosperous - none of us does this for the money, 
• Proud, 
• Placid, 
• Pure

At the final analysis, after much deliberation, I have decided to stick with Personal as my main P. I have begun a new Program, or is it a Paradigm shift, of alternating Professional and Passionate into conversation about my PLN - my Personal, Professional, Passionate Learning Network.

N.B. Few electrons were harmed in the writing of this post as I read through the P section of my dictionary - the printed, papery, paleo kind - then later found the adjectives website listed below.

Cross posted at Connected Principals.

Related articles

• This Principal Needs a PLN (principalspov.blogspot.com) 
• A PLN Quick Start Guide (esheninger.blogspot.com)
• The Innovative Educator's EdCampNYC Recap (theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com)
• #EdcampNYC Thoughts (thenerdyteacher.com)
• An #edcamp experience (principalposts.edublogs.org)
• EdCamp NYC, Fliegs' Index* (principalspov.blogspot.com)
• #EdCampKC PLN F2F/IRL (principalspov.blogspot.com)
• Adjectives That Start with P (www.your.dictionary.com)