What Did She Say?

English. Spanish. French. Text. What? Texting is not officially classified as a language, but it is being used like one. Don’t be surprised if you begin to notice the numerous texting abbreviations creep their way into your classrooms!

How do you speak the language? What does it all mean? Here are a few rules of the game, courtesy of Wikipedia…

Single letters can replace words
*be becomes b
*see becomes c
*are becomes r
*you becomes u
*why becomes y

Single digits can replace words
*ate becomes 8
*for becomes 4
*to or too becomes 2

A single letter or digit can replace a syllable
*ate becomes 8, so:
*great becomes gr8
*later becomes l8r or l8a
*skate becomes sk8
*skater becomes sk8r
*"tomorrow" becomes "2mro"
*for or fore becomes 4, so:
*before becomes (combining both of the above) b4
*therefore becomes thr4
*Are you there becomes r u there or r u dere

Combinations of the above can shorten a single or multiple words
*Your and You're both become ur or yr

Characters and punctuation can be removed to shorten messages
*-in can replace -ing in most cases, similar to that in vocal slang
*For example, coming becomes comin and txting becomes txtin

Vowels can be removed such that the sequence of consonants remain and the word is still recognizable.
*For example, between becomes btwn or b/w and yearbook becomes yrbk
*Or: Are you there becomes r u thr
*“/” can signify abbreviation, such as w/ for with and s/t for something

There are tons of online sources to help you obtain a better understanding. Best advice – be informed and aware of your students’ communication skills and methods!

If you run across a text message you just can’t decipher… check out this searchable acronyms and abbreviations site. http://www.abbreviations.com/

G2G. T+. HTH!
(Got to go. Think Positive. Hope this helps!)

Open Door… MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Yale

Interested in taking an online course? Better yet, want to enroll at an “ivy-league” institution? Here is your opportunity!

What do you need?
*Computer
*Internet Access
*Printer
*Motivation
*Time

Check out these institutions and their ample offerings… Did I mention the courses are free?

Stanford: http://www.youtube.com/profile_play_list?user=stanforduniversity
Along with their own YouTube channel, Stanford also has their own channel within iTunes U with courses available for download.

UC Berkeley: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses.php
UC Berkeley “webcast” hosts a variety of courses offered as a live feed or on-demand replay via the World Wide Web.

Yale: http://oyc.yale.edu/
“Yale Open Courses” are based on the philosophy that education should be accessible to anyone with the desire to learn.

MIT: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/help/start/index.htm
“MIT Open Courseware” is the web-based version of numerous undergraduate/graduate classes regularly offered at MIT.

Remember, as a teacher, whenever you learn something new, your students are bound to also!

Keep in mind that utilizing these resources adds to your knowledge-base but does not offer any formal certifications or degrees.

Undeniably Global

For at least a year, we've talked about 21st Century skills and the imperative to go global. We've asked school level Technology Facilitators and district Instructional Technology staff to read the ISTE publication Digital Citizenship in Schools by Mike Ribble and Gerald Bailey to focus attention on the need to teach the appropriate use of technology. We've expanded staff development offerings to share tools that promote collaboration inside the classroom and across the globe. We've asked educators to rethink the possibilities.

Some folks "got it". A few folks were willing to take the leap and make time and financial commitments to implement change and explore new ways to reach our digital natives. Some folks just weren't ready to go there or didn't feel the need to stretch their community to include global connections.

Last week I read a blog article posted at Public School Insights by Claus von Zastrow titled "Lessons of the Fall". He feels the current economic crisis is a "teachable moment" about our interdependence. I see the extensive coverage of our struggling global markets as undeniable evidence that we are part of a global society.

It is all too easy to get caught up in the problems in our individual schools or our district and forget to look past the county line, state line or national borders. That may have worked for past generations but we don't live in the same world we grew up in. We don't have the luxury of ignoring the millions of people outside our communities because what happens to them affects us and our communities.

Let's take a fresh look at the bigger picture. Let's acknowledge that we are members of a global society. Let's help our students take advantage of the expansive wealth of knowledge and resources available to this generation. Let's make sure our students are prepared to safely interact with people beyond our walls and borders. Let's develop an awareness of our interdependence and the need to consider broader consequences of our actions. Let's learn to look beyond our selves because ...

We Are Undeniably Global.

Featured 21st Century School

Be sure to check out the Teach 21 blog for Bolton Elementary. The address for the teach21 blog is http://teach21bolton.blogspot.com/.

Throughout the school year, Bolton staff is having conversations about what needs to be done to have future-ready students. They are learning how to motivate and inspire students through the use of technology. This blog is written by the school's technology facilitator, Sam Walker. Sam is documenting the thoughts, fears, excitement, and successes of bringing Bolton into the 21st Century. If you get a chance, please click on the teacher blog links on the left hand side. They are just beginning their journey and it is an exciting one!

In Search of a Video for Class?

Looking for a video clip to use in class? Youtube blocked? Try Teachertube (which Marlo blogged about last March) and Schooltube, which are two sites that strive to offer video clips for the classroom. The clips are screened for inappropriate content, and both can provide sources for video to support your lessons. Check out the Animaniacs 50 States and Capitals song included below.
Teachertube and Schooltube can also be utilized to get ideas for lessons and see what other classes are doing. Both sites are free, but supported by ads.

If the network or the site is slow (which is my one complaint about Teachertube) or you'd like to pull in video from another source, the site Zamzar.com will allow you covert an embedded video into a video file that can be played in Windows Media or Quicktime. There are some formats that are not supported but many are, and once you complete the process the link for downloading the file will be emailed to you when it is done converting. When I've done it, I've successfully gotten the email with the link in under an hour.