When I Become A Teacher

WebQuest

My role is the Affiliator.

WebQuest	Strengths	Weaknesses
Grow School Greens	Student work in groups to do research, and can split up into roles. They can easily take turns with the roles.	No weaknesses found.
Where is My Hero?	This is a group project. They talk about the information they found together and design a poster about qualities of a hero together.	Each student selects a different famous person. Information is shared after research is done.
Underground Railroad	This is a group project. Each student will have a different role.	The student will research only his role. Could be done without the group. Information is shared after research is done.
Ice Cream	This is a group project. They must decide on a flavor together and work together to design a poster. Students work together to make the ice cream.	The worksheet is done independently.
Ancient Egypt	Students work with a partner to do research and present their brochure.	A lot of work for only two people. Could be done in larger groups.

 

 

I think the two best WebQuests are the Ice Cream and the Grow School Greens. I think these are the best because they promote the most group activity. Grow School Greens is completely done in groups and the Ice Cream WebQuest only has one worksheet that is done independently. The rest is done in a group.

 

I think the two worst WebQuests are the Underground Railroad and the Ancient Egypt WebQuest (I also think the Where is my Hero WebQuest isn't that great.) The Underground Railroad says it is for a group, but I feel it could also be done independently and the same knowledge would be gained. The Ancient Eqypt WebQuest is bad because it is a lot of work for only two people. I would make the groups about 4 or 5 people instead of 2. The Where is my Hero WebQuest is not that great of a group project because most work is done individually and shared after.

 

To me the best WebQuests are the ones that involve the most group activity. And a bad WebQuest is one that could be, or is, done individually. If most of the work is independent it still is not a good one, even if they share their research with a group after.

 

Autobiography

Autobiography

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Can't we just watch the movie? [Double Entry Journal #12]

Quote: "We must teach communication comprehensively, in all its forms. Today we work with the written or spoken word as the primary form of communication. But we also need to understand the importance of graphics, music, and cinema, which are just as powerful and in some ways more deeply intertwined with young people's culture. We live and work in a visually sophisticated world, so we must be sophisticated in using all the forms of communication, not just the written word."

Reaction: George Lucas makes a good point here. In school, we rarely discuss how graphics, music, and cinema influence us. When the fact of the matter is, these things are just as influential, if not more, than the written or spoken word. More kids today are watching movies and listening to music than they are reading a novel. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just a change with the times. Education must reflect this. Maybe start assigning movies (that are well written and produced) about the same novel that the students will only pretend to read. While I am on the "the movie is never as good as the book" team, this could be something to debate if it is substitution worthy.

Related resource:

Sources:

Daly, J. (n.d.). Life on the Screen: Visual Literacy in Education | Edutopia. K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work | Edutopia. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from http://www.edutopia.org/lucas-visual-literacy

Kids and Reading : Books for Kids. (n.d.). Online Books Store | Buy Books at Tradus Books. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from http://tradusbooks.blogspot.com/2010/10/kids-and-reading-books-for-kids.html

Glass Giant

Banning Sex Offenders [Double Entry Journal #11]

In this article, the author, Larry Magid, is saying that the Illinois law banning anyone on the sex offender list from all social networking sites will be ineffective and is not just. He points out that many people on the list aren't what most people would call a "sex offender" and that the law should worry more about the ones that haven't gotton cought.

The edivence he provides is substantial. He lists some of the more ridiculous reasons a person might be considerd a "sex offender" and states that only 8 cases out of 9,934 of children who were sexually abused started out online.

When you hear "sex offender" you automatically think "rapist!" But, as this article points out, this is not always the case. Two teenagers engaging in sexual activity can be registered (29 states), as can someone who flashes or streakers- which is not unusal on a college campus like WVU (32 states). Should those people be banned from websites because of one night when they went a little crazy? I think the real issue here is not about banning sex offenders from social networking sites, but what classifies someone as a sex offender. When the definition of "sex offender" becomes more realistic and accurate, the laws regarding such things will be made more appropriate. Instead of debating about should sex offenders be banned, it should be what makes someone a sex offender. In my opinion, it's not someone who urnitates in public - how many guys do you know that have done that? (13 states) I mean, come on now.

Magid, L. (n.d.). Social-networking ban for sex offenders: Bad call? | Safe and Secure - CNET News. Technology News - CNET News. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10309421-238.html

Wikipedia Worksheet - Greek Mythology

1) This article or section has multiple issues. - No

2) This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. - No

3) The neutrality of this article is disputed. - No
4) The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. - No

5) This needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. - No
6) This may contain material not appropriate for an encyclopedia. - No

7) This article only describes one highly specialized aspect of its associated subject. - No

8) This article requires authentication or verification by an expert. - No

9) This article or section needs to be updated. - No
10) This article may not provide balanced geographical coverage on a region. - No
11) This is missing citations or needs footnotes.- No

12) This article does not cite any references or sources. - No

13) Is it written in a clear and organized way? - Yes

14) Is the tone neutral (not taking sides)? - Yes

15) Are all important facts referenced (you're told where they come from)? -Yes

16) Does the information provided seem complete or does it look like there are gaps (or just one side of the story)? - Complete

Wikipedia: Friend, Not Foe

1) Did the class activity about Wikipedia and this article change your opinion about the value of Wikipedia to society in general and education specifically?

- No. Maybe I'm just stubborn but I stand by my opinion that Wikipedia is a good tool for research. I like Wikipedia because it's a good starting point and it's convenient because information that used to take 3 sources to find can now be found on one page. For example: say you are doing an article on Alexander Graham Bell. One source might give you his personal life, another his inventions, and a third his work with the deaf. If you only look at one source you would only get one of those topics. But Wikipedia gives all three plus more. I'm not saying Wikipedia is the best thing on Earth and we should throw books away. I'm just saying it's a convenient way to START your research.

2) Describe how you might direct students to use wikipedia in your future classroom.

- These would be my directions: Wikipedia is a good starter sight. You can get info there and then check it somewhere else to verify it. It helps your research if you know what you're looking for. Don't cite Wikipedia, cite the site that you found the same fact on.

Wikipedia

a. What is Wikipedia? 
- Wikipedia is a web-based encyclopedia. 


b. How would you answer the question posed in this piece “How reliable can a source be when anyone can edit it?”
- Not very reliable. They could be providing false information.

c. Who do the creators of Wikipedia place their trust in when it comes to weeding out misinformation? 
- The article says they depend on the crowd to weed out misinformation

d. Why did founder Larry Sanger leave Wikipedia? 
- He believed they should give more authority to experts.

e. What would abuse or vandalism look like on a Wikipedia page? 
- Words containing bias or opinions rather than facts. 

f. What do the statistics quoted in the third paragraph of this piece reveal? 
- Wikipedia is growing all the time

g. Why do you think Wikipedia is so successful? 
- It's convenient because everything you want to know about a subject is on one page, other than having to look at several pages to get the information.  

h. Why might Wikipedia’s creators not want to accept advertising? 
- They want their site to look legitimate and advertising could make it seem like their pages are biased. 

i. How does Wikiscanner help increase the reliability of Wikipedia entries?
- It allows the IP address of submitter to be checked. This exposes people putting false, or biased, information. 

Not Stupid...Dyslexia [Double Journal #10]

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Think Aloud

Think Aloud

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Website Evaluation

www.thedogisland.com

WHO?

Has someone taken responsibility for the content of this Web site?
- After clicking the "contact us" tab, I finally found some names. It says that Xiao Min and Han Fei are the founders. It also lists names of positions on The Dog Island. All of their e-mails have the same domain name, and the descriptions are irrelevant and just talks about their love of dogs.

Can you contact the company or author through a real world postal address or phone number?
- No. The only way to contact any member of the website is through their personal e-mails. Are there any links to in-depth information about the author or organization?
- No. Just e-mails and a very short bio.
WHAT?

Does the site rely on loaded language or broad, unsubstantiated statements?
- Yes. Multiple times the website says that they "can't offer this to poor people because it's expensice" and that they are funded by "rich people with big hearts."Does the site clearly state the topics that it intends to address?
-No. It has topics but then never addresses them. In the "directions" section it gives absurd reasons why they can't give their exact location and ridiculous directions that involve marking your way with red tape on doors. Also, in the "rates" section, they don't even mention any rates.

Is emotion used as a means of persuasion?-Yes. They subtly try to make you feel guilty about keeping your dog "cooped up" and say that the right thing to do to make your dog happy is to send it there.

WHEN?

Is it important that the information you're looking for be absolutely current?
- Yes, but on this website, everything is misleading

Is a reference date provided to show when the material was put online, or when it was last updated?
-No. There are no dates at all. "Visit" dates are given but just the month and day, no year.

Do the links work?
- The links take you to other pages on the same domain name.



Upon further investigation I discovered this:

"The Dog Island site is a hoax playing on western revulsion of Asian dog-eating practices, and its creators deliberately used names identical to those of persons and companies in China who process dogs for human consumption (for example, the "Dawn Fine Bred Dog Center" of which Dog Island is supposedly a subsidiary, the city of Pexian, and the name "Han Fei" are all references to the Dawn Fine Bred Meat Dog Center, a commercial operation in China where dogs are raised for meat), similar to a stunt once pulled by notorious prankster Joey Skaggs."
This is according to snopes.com

Call, IM, or meet in person? [Double Entry Journal #9]

 Quote: "After two decades of psycho-social research on the impact of computer mediated communications (CMC) and social network sites on relationships, a summary reveals that internet use does not necessarily lead to negative, anti-social behavior.

On the contrary, cyber or online social networking may increase a person's social ease, the breadth and depth of off-line relationships, and their overall "social capital" – the resources accumulated through the relationships with people."

Response: This has been quite a debate for some time. I agree that online communication can be both negative and positive. On one hand, people feel they will have the courage to say something online that they might not in person (this can be good or bad.) Negatively, some people have separate friends, interests, and complete lives online. Some people have friends that, even though they see everyday, they only talk to online and never in person. But overall, I fell online communication does not  lead to anti-social behavior. I think quite the opposite. I believe online communication increases a person's social behavior. It lets users communicate in other ways than the telephone and in-person. It makes talking to someone more convenient, also it opens the possibility of talking to more than one person at once (either together in chat rooms, or separately.) And lets not forget about crossing national lines. Online communication makes this much easier. I think online communication increases social interaction...it's still you talking. So why would that not be considered social interaction?    

Related resource:

Sources:

Owens, L. (n.d.). Internet & Anti-Social Behavior Theory Unfounded: Facebook, MySpace, Online: Research Refutes Cyber Socializing Fears | Suite101.com. Psychology | Suite101.com. Retrieved October 20, 2011, from http://laura-owens.suite101.com/internet--anti-social-behavior-theory-unfounded-a111897

Royalty Free Stock Photo: Online communication. (n.d.). Stock Photography: Download Free Stock Photos & Royalty Free Images. Retrieved October 20, 2011, from http://www.dreamstime.com/online-communication-image3114415

Favorite Holiday

 What is your favorite Holiday?

Web 2.0 Tools

The Web 2.0 tool I chose is Dipity.com. According to Go2Web20.net Dipity.com is a site where you "Create and embed timelines and other visualizations using data from RSS and other APIs." I would use this tool in my history classroom; I think this is a great tool. I could use this for many things. One idea: If we are learning about a specific time period, an event (such as a war), or a historical figure, this is a great and fun way for students to make a timeline of the item we are studying. This could double as a project and a study tool. This is a new way to make a timeline and I think students will remember it better doing it this way rather than with paper and pencil. They can add pictures to their timelines as well. I would consider the possibility of the website or the computers not working and students not having a computer at home. If the first is the case, I would save it for later or have them do a traditional timeline. If lack of a computer is a problem, I would make sure we have class time to complete this.

My Voki

Voki lesson plan for social studies:

Magazine Cover

You want me to make a powerpoint...What's that? [Double Entry Journal #7]

Quote: "U.S. students may learn something about evaluating sources in research paper assignments and learn to recognize propaganda in social studies, but that's often the extent of their media literacy instruction. Even though students are spending more and more time on the Internet and teachers increasingly expect their students to do assignments online, digital media literacy skills are vastly underrepresented in the curriculum for all but the most advanced students (as, indeed, are offline critical-thinking and reading-comprehension skills)."

Response: I have never thought about this statement but now that I read it I believe it. In all my schooling this is the first technology-based course I have ever taken. In elementary we have computer class but that's just playing games, but other than typing in middle school, that's it. But yet ever since they were invited we had to make powerpoints, graphs using excel, and papers using word. But we were never taught how to use those things; I can't remember how I learned to use them but I know it wasn't in school. With technology advancing so much everyday we need to be teaching students how to use those programs and many more.

Related resource:

Sources:

David, J. (2009, March). Teaching Media Literacy. Educational Leadership, 66, 84-86.

Youth Relationships Featuring the Fourth R-Research and Consulting - Critical Media Literacy. (n.d.). Youth Relationships Featuring the Fourth R. Retrieved October 9, 2011, from http://youthrelationships.org/research_consulting/media_literacy.html

Arnold magazine covers

1.   In this picture Arnold's muscles are the main focus; he's flexing and not much else. He looks very tough and strong. His face looks like he's saying he will beat up anybody who looks at him wrong and his body language says he has the power to do so and the scar on his face is saying it wouldn't be the first time.

2.   This magazine cover would not make me want to pick it up and read it. I wouldn't feel like this applies to me. This picture makes me feel like it's all going to be macho-guy workouts and protein shakes. I would recognize him as a movie actor (at the time.)

3.   Seeing this now reminds me of when Arnold was nothing but an action movie star from another country. The first thought that came to me was "The Terminator" and "I'll be back." I believe the magazine is playing on this popularity and opinion of Arnold. The magazine wants you to think that if you do what they say, you will be as big and strong as Arnold.

4.   The aspect of Arnold's life expressed here is that of fitness. The magazine is focusing on his muscles and athletic ability and not much else. The magazine wants you to pick it up because it's someone we already know to be really fit and want to be as strong as him.

1.   Here Arnold looks very responsible and reliable. He is in a suit and tie and looking very respectable and professional. His body language and face looks like he's saying you can count on him.

2.   This picture makes me feel like Arnold is a poltician. At this time he was running for Governor of California and looks the part. He looks as if he has left the old days behind him and he's ready to run a state.

3.   The magazine is covering up his mucsles, the very thing that made him famous. They don't want you to see Arnold as the Terminator but as a governor. He is also smiling in this picture, seeming very approachable.

4.   The aspect of Arnold's life depicted in this magazine cover is his professionality. The magazine wants you to see Arnold in a suit and a smile and not judge him by his fame for acting, but as a future governor.


   These two magazine covers couldn't be any more different. I assumed the muscle & fitness one was years before the other, not just one month. As I stated above, Arnold's body language in each picture is conveying very different thoughts and ideas. Muscle & Fitness wants you to see his strongness and think that if you do what thr magazine says, you can be as big and strong as Arnold. Esquire doesn't want you to see the terminator in their magazine cover but a politican running for governor.

Reference Books? Nah...we'll just use Google. [Double Jounal Entry #6]

Quote: "Teaching must capitalize on students’ preferred literacy behaviors online. For example, since we know that students are speed-reading and skimming online, that they prefer clicking to scrolling, and that they will rarely read below the “fold” (Nielsen, 2002), we can teach quick ways to assess authority and credibility. Simple techniques, such as cutting back the URL, or pasting the author’s name or an asserted fact into a search engine, can validate authority or confirm bias."

Reaction: I agree with this quote very much. Kids never fully read anything longer than 3 paragraphs. I admit to skimming the article above! We live in a timed society. Anything that takes longer than a few minutes is viewed as a hassle. And that's not going to change. What can change is teaching kids what to look for when they "read." Also, validating sources is very important. These days anyone can make a website, make it look legit, and put whatever they want on there. Teachers always say Wikipedia is not a source, and I'm not saying it is, but it's a great place to start. It has all the info you need on one page and is broken up making it very easy to read. I think Wikipedia is great. You can go on there and if you learn something new, you can just search that fact to find other sources that back it up, rather than doing a broad search that leads you nowhere. I think that is a good quick way to teach how to check validity and creditability: search the one fact you found for other sources to back it up.

Related Source:

Sources:

Abilock, D. (2003, Nov. - Dec.). A Seven-power Lens on 21stCentury Literacy. Multimedia  

      Schools, 1, 30-35.

Philippines Outsourcing: Outsourcing, Data Entry, Back Office Operations. (n.d.). Philippines

      Outsourcing: BPO, Data Entry, Back Office Operations. Retrieved September 29, 2011, 

      from http://www.datasolutions.ph/Services/Internet-Research

Obama Pictures

Photo 1:

This photograph is heavy on implications. It seems very much like Obama and his team are on top of things and proactive. It shows that if Obama isn't worried, you shouldn't be either. This photo is very positive on the plans Obama has in store to clean up the oil spill and fix the problem. The questions this photo results in are posititve ones: will this be done quickly? Is this not a big deal like everyone thinks? Will everything really be ok?

Photo 2:



This photograph, like the first, says a lot. Although, unlike the first photograph, the message is negative. Obama looks worried and concerned. It makes you think Obama is not convinced his plans will work. The downcast eyebrows makes him look very afraid that disappointment is inevitable. He is also hunched foward as if it the pressure on him is wearing his down mentally and physically, which puts doubt in his ablitites. The questions this photograph raises are negative: How long will this take? What is the real impact on the American people? Can this even be fixed?

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Photo 1 clearly gives more confidence in the President's abilities. He looks very confident and head strong, where in the 2nd picture he looks unsure and exhausted. Photo 1 makes the reader believe in Obama and have faith that his efforts will prove successful. Photo 2 makes the reader feel Obama himself is doubtful that his plans will work.

Writer : Word Processing :: Artist : Photo Story [Double Journal Entry #5]

Quote: "Multimedia communication has become ubiquitous in a short period of time because of two fairly recent developments. First, today's relatively affordable, easy-to-use, multimedia technology acts an assistive technology for the artistically challanged. In the same way that word processing opened up the world of the writer, multimedia technology has opened up the world of the artist. Today, anyone who can move a mouse can jump in and give it a go."

Reaction: Ohler makes a good point that I never thought of. A few years ago, PhotoStory would have had to been bought in a store (for probably over $30), taken home and a disc put in your computer, then maybe an hour later you could begin your project. Now, I downloaded this program for my laptop for free in about 5 minutes at the most. He also points out that this is the artist's version of word processing; another point I never thought of. This allows anyone to be an artist. Your photo story could be a piece of art.

Related Resource:

Sources:



4everlearner / PETE and C 2010 Web-based Digital Storytelling Options. (n.d.). 4everlearner / FrontPage. Retrieved September 22, 2011, from http://4everlearner.pbworks.com/w/page/23111272/PETE%20and%20C%202010%20Web-based%20Digital%20Storytelling%20Options

Ohler, J. (2000, October). Art Becomes the Next R. Educational Leadership Magazine, 58, 16-19.

About my Digital Story

The Quote I chose for my digital story is: "I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma." - Eartha Kitt. I chose this quote because I agree with it 100%. Just because you graduate from high school or college doesn't mean you know everything, or anything really. We learn new things everyday.

I think the digital story relates to the ISTE-NETS standard 1: Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. This is a very creative-friendly project. Assigning this would definitely promote creativity and engage students using digital tools and resources.

This could promote learning in my future classroom several ways. This tool could help my students learn about an event or person in history and increase their knowledge in a better and more interactive way than lecturing.  

I could have the students pick an admendment or a Supreme Court Case and make a photostory describing the significance and history of that particular thing. For example: Say we are learning about the constitution. If I give each student an admendment to work with, then present at the end, all the admendments get covered but it's a fun and new way.

Michelle's Photostory

See all the graphics?! Oh wait..this was supposed to be about something? [Double Entry Journal #4]

Quote: "The problem for many students is their focus on the power of the technology rather than the power of their stories. Some students are engaging the medium at the expense of the message, producing a technical event rather than a story. Part of my task as a digital storytelling teacher is to teach students how to be storyrellers. Two important components of my approach to teaching storytelling are story mapping and practicing written and oral story telling before bringing in digital elements."

Reaction: I agree with the author on this, especially on the first sentencs. Digital and media projects can be a wonderful tool to use in the classroom. But there is always that risk of a student being more concerned about the technology aspect than what the assignment is. We don't want this is be mistreated and the learning that's supposed to be taken place get overtaken by the excitement of the technology.

Related Resource:

Sources:

Google Images. (n.d.). Google. Retrieved September 18, 2011, from http://www.google.com/imgres?q=students+and+technology&um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=pyUSAkcPgL9zlM:&imgrefurl=https://www.doit.wisc.edu/news/story.aspx%3Ffilename%3D1121&docid=buShuu0df09cDM&w=335&h=344&ei=Hlt2TvzVIem2sQKe-J2MBQ&zoom=1&biw=1366&bih=587&iact=

Ohler, J. (2006). The World of Digital Storytelling. Educational Leadership, December/January, 44-47.

Make Beliefs Comix

Learning Style Test and Picasso Head

My learning style is Read/Write and Kinesthetic. My results put me at 2 points higher in Read/Write but I think they are the same. I think I identify with both types of learner equally. For Kinesthetic it says field trips, videos, and photographs help me learn, and I definitely agree with that. Whenever we watch a video in class I can usually remember that better than lecture notes. However, when it comes to studying, I agree that I am more read/write. I read my notes several times. However, I do not do many of the other study tools, ex. "Organize any diagrams, charts...into statements." I do better looking at the diagram and charts and remembering them that way.

My Picasso Head:

Changing English, or just being innovative: [Double Entry Journal #3]

"There is a long and noble history of trying to change the English language’s notoriously illogical system of spelling. The fact that through, rough, dough, plough, hiccough and trough all end with -ough, yet none of them sound the same as any of the others, is the sort of thing that has been vexing poets and learners of English for quite some time."

Reaction: I have quite a few foreign friends and I always hear them complain that the English language is so difficult to learn. And I can't disagree. Many of our words have more than one meanings and then we have the words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. The English language is definitely complex. This artle is talking about how reforms to change English have never been successful until now, with texting. I disagree. Texting is NOT CHANGING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE and these people need to calm down. The world won't stop turning because Suzy Joe texted Billy that she had a "gr8 time" on their "d8 last nite." And the majority if people don't even actually text like that. The novelty of that went away with the flip phone. I would argue that the writer of these articles have no idea what they are talking about. They need to be actually the kids that they believe are doing this and not just assume. They are freaking out over nothing. Out of all the people I text only ONE texts in "text-lingo" and it's not even that bad. Most kids actually text the full words. And no one stops to consider why the words have been shortened...maybe it's because one text message can only contain 160 characters. So why use space to write "that was funny" when you could just simply put "lol"? It;s not because we're lazy, we just don't want to send two messages for just a few words. As for the kids who do put letters in their words and completely butcher the spellings...it won't last for long. Trust me.

Related Resource:

Sources:

The OutSource Group, Inc. | Texting. (n.d.). Texting Archive. Retrieved September 6, 2011, from http://www.theoutsourcegroup.net/blog/?tag=texting

SHEA, A. (2010, January 22). On Language - The Keypad Solution - NYTimes.com. NY Times Advertisement. Retrieved September 6, 2011, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-onlanguage-t.html

Poll Everywhere and Wordle and NETS-T

I made my Poll on polleverywhere ask the audience what subject they wanted to teach and what grade levels. I then took the responses I recieved and made them into a wordle, which takes the key words and arranges them in a fun and creative way. This applies to the first bullet of Standard 1 of the NETS-T by being creating a creative environment for the students to learn.

I read the wordle lesson plan. This teacher teaches English at the elementry level. She switched the assignment around numerous times until the kids were more comftorable with it and she was getting better results. The blog doesn't say what she was using the wordle for, but she tells that the kids made their own wordles from, what I assume, was vocabulary words or spelling words. 
This applies to the third bullet of Standard 1 of the NETS-T by using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.

I could use these both in my classroom. For wordle I could create one of the presidents, or states, or something like that. A poll could be created by asking students short answer questions. I don't think Poll Everywhere and Wordle have to be used together.

LOLing @ ur English [Double Entry Journal #2]

"Are instant messaging and text messaging killing language? To hear what the popular media say, a handful of OMGs (oh my god) and smiley faces, along with a paucity of capital letters and punctuation marks, might be bringing English to its knees.

Although journalists tend to sensationalize the linguistic strangeness of "online lingo," quantitative analyses of instant messaging conversations and text messages reveal that abbreviations, acronyms, and even misspellings are comparatively infrequent, at least among college-age students. For example, in a study I did of college students' instant messaging conversations, out of 11,718 words, only 31 were "online lingo" abbreviations, and only 90 were acronyms (of which 76 were LOL). In a study of college students' text messaging, my colleague Rich Ling and I found a few more lexical shortenings; yet the grand total of clear abbreviations was only 47 out of 1,473 words, which is hardly overwhelming."

Reaction: I'll admit that, when texting and IMing, I am a major "LOL"er. But I also know that school is not a place for such things. I usually don't even think about using those acronyms when writing a paper but I'll confess to almost putting "LOL" in an e-mail to an adult before. But some kids can't distinguish when it's approriate and not. I am a straight-english texter, meaning I use complete sentences and spell all my words correctly. But there are many kids who hardly ever spell out anything when texting and those are most likely the kids who let those "words" slip into papers and other school related things. 

Related Resource:

References:

Baron, N. (n.d.). Educational Leadership:Literacy 2.0:Are Digital Media Changing Language?. Membership, policy, and professional development for educators – ASCD. Retrieved September 1, 2011, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Are-Digital-Media-Changing-Language%C2%A2.aspx

rosecourt12 « newmedialanguage. (n.d.). newmedialanguage. Retrieved September 1, 2011, from http://newmedialanguage.wordpr