Making a Difference On and Off Line- Jennifer Casa-Todd's P3

Jennifer Casa-Todd is a wife, mom, a Teacher-Librarian in Ontario, Canada, a former Literacy Consultant, and the author of the book, Social LEADia. She is an Ontario Google Educator Group leader, a Breakout EDU trainer, a Google Certified educator, a mentor teacher for the ON-ED Student's chat (@OnEdSsChat), and the lead organizer for the first Canadian DigCit Summit. Jennifer is also is a grad student at the University of Ontario Institute for Technology focusing on social media in education. She’s passionate about showing teachers and students how they can use technology and social media to make the world a better place.

Jen decided to write SocialLEADia as a passion project. She was introduced to a publisher by George Couros and had the opportunity for an impromptu book pitch. It really began from a mom-moment when her daughter was asked about her use of social media. Jen then realized that she has not supported her own child's foray into social media in a safe and meaningful way. She then discovered that many children were being mentored by adults, so she wanted to celebrate the kids who were using their voices on social media to promote the positive digital tattoo that we need to teach and model. Jen wanted to shine a light on this piece of her heart and how we can leverage technology. While the original publisher didn't work out, Jennifer pitched it to Dave and Shelley Burgess, who published it.

Jen’s first Digital Citizenship summit that she attended was as a panelist at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco. “I was amazed by the number of people in the room that were just as passionate about digital citizenship and empowering kids to use it for good as I was.” Many ideas and vignettes for her book came out from that experience. As well, Jen amassed a wonderful team to bring the DigCit Summit to Toronto this past October. It was a wonderful day of learning, sharing and building connections. That was also how I felt about our time recording her P3.

Although Jen often doesn’t remember songs, she knew what her nostalgic song would be immediately. When Jen started kindergarten, she didn’t speak a word of English. Since she spoke Sicilian, it created some obstacles for her because the Italian interpreters didn’t understand her so her teachers perceived her challenges to be academic instead of language-based. Growing up, she didn't listen to English music. She and her family played Italian music on their records or watched the CHIN show, full of Italian songs and performers. The original version of this song was written by Umberto Tozzi, so it wasn’t a huge stretch for her to listen to the English version by Laura Branigan. ‘It opened up a whole new world of English songs for me...it was my first introduction to pop culture in English.” Here is Gloria:

Jen had some difficulty selecting her identity song. “I was looking for a song that would reflect some of the hardships of my past...but also portray a sense of the positive and how I have overcome so much.” She enlisted her children’s perspective and tried to get guidance from friends. Jen knew she had found the exact right song for her when she heard it and and started to cry. When she shared it with her husband, he questioned her choice asking what hardship she had faced and overcome, and it was an opportunity to share with her long time friend and partner something that she never had from her past. Jennifer had prevailed through stumbling blocks that affected her deeply. “It had been buried for so long that I didn’t feel a need to share it. I just felt so grateful for him and the impact he had on my life.” There was a time when Jen felt hopeless and couldn't have imagined the wonderful life she has made with her amazing family and friends. “I feel like my life is a miracle,” noting her gratitude and why her heart is so full. The context of this song is a biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt. It also connects to Jennifer’s religion and faith, It’s the story of Moses and the song is sung by the characters of Tzipporah and Miriam. Here is When You Believe by Maria and Carey and Whitney Houston from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack:

Sometimes, you need a pick-me-up song to change your zone and make you happy. “I just love Justin Timberlake… and I love, love, love to dance.” This song is an ear-worm for Jen. “It can’t be underestimated- the ability of music to really help set a positive tone and a positive mood for so many of us.” It is one of the songs that plays regularly on the PA in the morning and her students may think she is a little crazy as she sings to them and bids them a great day. Here is Sunshine in My Pocket by Justin Timberlake and, like the people in the video, it’s hard not to want to get up and dance dance dance:

Jen is a very busy woman. She is teaching and leading in the York Region Catholic District School Board, and she is presently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Technology with a focus on social media and education. She is taking second semester off to continue her research, finish her degree, and share her message by presenting at conferences. Jen is a keynote speaker who presents across North America. She will be presenting at the TIES Conference in Minneapolis where she will be launching a Breakout Edu on Social LEADia, co-created with Ann Brucker. Jennifer blogs at jcasatodd.com, and you can find her on Twitter and Instagram. This past summer, she launched the Social LEADia Podcast available on iTunes and through voicEd Radio. Jennifer will also be presenting in Calgary, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Dallas and San Antonio in the new year.

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