Tag-Archive for » Web stuff «

Mr. Expert, Is that supposed to be me?

25
Mar 2011

Or the alternate title, “Why good grammar and spelling are so important….”

In my spam folder this morning was a comment that asked, “Mr. Expert, Are you going to have a follow up post or article about this anytime soon?”

I am impressed in that everything was spelled correctly and capitalized correctly as well, but did this person not really notice that I’m not a mister?

It seems like a lot of people have been pretending to be me lately including an actual he: my husband.

When he comes home from work, he frequently uses my laptop to log into his facebook account. He has his own laptop, but it is his work computer, and it isn’t always the fastest thing. The other day, he logged onto my computer, and I still had my wireless mouse. I swirled the mouse around the screen a few times before he managed to take my mouse away.

And my computer automatically logs into facebook, so he had access to my facebook account and updated my status for me.

He wrote: I hate being rude to my husband but it makes me laugh

That status quickly got comments. A little while later, my husband Steve was done with my laptop, and I was cooking dinner, which meant my laptop and facebook account were unprotected. It didn’t take long for a new status update to appear.

Yesss Houghton Lake Community School’s does not have school tomorrow, and that means i can take my children anywhere they want to go to tomorrow :)

That post was written by one of my children, and it quickly got responses. “Are you writing this or have your children taken control of your body?” was one such reply.

Before dinner was done, my status was updated once more, again not by me: I am a weridoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

That one received the most comments including, “It is one of the thing I like BEST about you” and “Are you drinking?”

And after it was revealed that I didn’t write my status, “That would explain the typo.”

In one memorable day, the children realized they didn’t even need my computer to gain access to my facebook because they knew my password. Most of the children’s posts were easy to detect they weren’t mine because they had spelling errors and typos, but the oldest child has a good grasp on grammar, and she can post a status that might be mistaken for something I posted.

I’ve updated my passwords on both my facebook and the main password that grants access to my laptop. I doubt this will stop the invasion of my facebook account, but it should slow things down. Besides, it amuses me.

Here is one instant message conversation I found a week or two ago. It is between “me” and my daughter Amanda’s friend.





Category: Parenting  Tags: , , , , ,  Comments off

Facebook Parenting

20
Mar 2011

Did my mom really mean to like, 'Hot Video: Teacher from Behind'? I don't think so.

Once in a while, my children start to get a little big for their britches and say things like how horrible it is to have to have their mother as a friend on facebook. This usually happens after I correct their spelling in “facebook public.”

I’m so embarrassing! I know. How horrible for them.

Except, this wasn’t a matter of them having a fun private party and all of a sudden mom arrives and ruins it by embarrassing them. It was more like I was having a fun private party and then my children became old enough to want a facebook profile and suddenly, I find that not only are my teenagers talking back to me in the privacy of my own home but also on my facebook profile (and blog comments, too).

Oh joyous parenting of the twenty-first century, who knew?

That’s right. My children are friends with their mom on facebook. They are also friends with their dad on facebook, but he doesn’t update his status and rarely posts anything on their walls, so he is OK but MOM? She’s horrible.

And I’m OK with that because I think part of my parenting job is to stick my nose into my children’s business, and after years working as a reporter, I have the skills and know-how to do it right. I read text messages. I read email. I confiscate computers and phones and read random texts and instant messages. I also read every single folded up note that I find anywhere in my home.

My children do have the option to not allow me access to their accounts and various electronic devices, and at the moment my children exercise this right, they lose the internet and phone and/or iPod/mp3 or whatever device it may be.

Why? Because I am the parent and the wallet that pays for these things.

So, it amuses me to no end when I see something in real life or a TV show that makes it seem like it is difficult for a parent to do something about a child’s electronic usage.

I just watched a DVR’d episode of Working Class, which is a new CMT comedy show. The mother was begging her son to accept her facebook friend request. This isn’t optional. Why would any parent think it was? How do your kids get on facebook to begin with? Mom brings internet into the home, and Mom can take the internet away from you.

And for the most part, my kids don’t mind being my facebook friend. I try to offer them good advice. For instance, when one of them unknowingly suggested that they worked as a “slang word here,” I let the child know that the slang word they had chosen has a meaning that they weren’t aware of. Luckily, none of the child’s friends seemed to know the meaning either. Tragedy avoided. You’re welcome.

But when it came to my own mother on facebook? Why would I want that? But luckily, my mom is not computer savvy. In fact, she is a bit technologically challenged in that still to this day, she cannot set the clock on a VCR and frankly, that technology is so old that no one even has VCRs.

But my sister in all her wisdom created a facebook profile for my mom. Or maybe it was my niece. I just know that it was the relatives in Arizona. And to make things simple, they did it by doing all of the hard work and then just letting my mom know her username and password and then walking her through the steps to help her log in.

For a while, I was worried, but pretty soon, my mom’s computer wasn’t working, and she didn’t know how to get it to work, and she forgot about that facebook thing. But lately, facebook has been creeping into conversations. Did you see the cakes Shawn made? Or the javalina Chuck shot? What about the color of Jazmin’s new room? Eva’s latest pics? Maxine’s new dress? Oh, so and so posted them on facebook. When you go to Linda’s house, have her show you….

And my mom became interested in the internet again. My sister in Arizona (she is the one that starts all the trouble) convinced my mom that a laptop was the answer. It was portable, which meant if she couldn’t get it to work, she could easily bring it to her reluctant computer repairman (aka me) rather than wait until the next time Linda shows up in Grayling with time to fix the computer.

This is all a long story to say, “My mom’s on facebook.” That, of course, is code for, “My mom is on facebook, and she doesn’t know what she is doing, so she does weird embarrassing things and please know that I’m pretty sure she didn’t really mean to like the link about the teacher’s bottom, and I suspect it is really spam that automatically posts to your page when you click the link, and this means I no longer have to wonder about what the heck my cousin was thinking — and that it really had been a long time since I’d last talked to him and boy people must change — when he posted those same links to his page.”

Isn’t it simpler to say, “My mom’s on facebook.” And who knew that you could be mortified by your mother when you are almost 40? I thought it was a teen thing. Apparently not. :) At least, I know that I am not alone. Chances are your mother is on facebook too.

Category: Family, Parenting  Tags: , , , ,  4 Comments

Much Ado About Nothing

16
Dec 2010

This is from the Word file that I always have open when I'm working on my computer. The grading scale comes in handy.

I should blog. I know I should blog, but I’m not sure what to blog about. Maybe it will come to me.

I should grade. I know I should be grading, but I am TIRED of grading. I need a tiny break, so I am blogging instead of grading. Don’t tell anyone.

When I came to my blog, there were a bunch of comments that were in my spam folder. I went through them and deleted them all, but one made me laugh out loud. I still won’t approve it since it was spam with its primary purpose to build a link to a site, but the content of the spam was funny, so I am sharing it: Say I freeze meat in January. The package has an expiration date of February. When I thaw it in June, why doesn’t it remember immediately that it should have gone bad four months ago?

Of course, it had nothing to do with my post, Shopping Savvy, so it is obvious that is has to be spam, but it made me chuckle.

My office at Ferris is very quiet. I share it with three other people, but I haven’t seen any of them this week. We don’t tend to be here all at once anyway, but it is odd not to run into one of them. On Tuesday, I was here for 8 hours and never saw any of the others. Weird.

OK, my office is TOO quiet. I have now turned on YahooRadio, so I can hear something besides my typing. It is playing “Bottoms Up,” which has a catchy beat, but I’m not sure I like it.

Actually, I’m not sure I like music coming from my computer at all. I like to listen to music when I work, but the music from my computer seems TOO close to the work I am doing. Isn’t that weird? Millions of people listen to music on their computer when doing other things, but I usually avoid it. Instead I turn on my TV to one of the music channels or a radio. The music from my computer is too close. It is distracting, but without the music, the quiet is distracting. Maybe I should give up and take a walk up to the department office.

I really can’t give up. I NEED to get this grading done. And then next week I will have an entire week to myself at home without any deadlines or concerns. I plan to spend that week preparing for next semester. I have online classes that need to be tweaked and readied. I want to create a few more Jing movies to help my students, and I need a quiet house for that. Plus, I have to write the annual Christmas letter and get all of my Christmas cards sent out. I am way behind on that.

And when the time comes for the children to be released from school, I want to have my work done so I can enjoy the end of the year with my family. Will it happen? Or will I bend to procrastination next week and accomplish nothing that I need to do?

Procrastination cannot win.

I have the volume of my computer turned down to the lowest it can go without being muted. The music is not quite as horrible coming out of my computer that way.

I know. I’m weird about this. Normally, though, I surf the Internet and do my work with my speakers on mute. I don’t want strange and odd noises emanating from my computer without my permission and/or prior knowledge. I only turn things up when I watch a YouTube video or some other project that requires sound. Other than that, my computer is silent.

Category: Choppy Thoughts  Tags: , , , , ,  Comments off

Shopping Savvy?

30
Nov 2010

Based on the number of emails I get, Amazon.com is my new best buddy.

For years, my idea of Christmas shopping was to wait the weekend before and buy everything for everyone all at once usually in a single store.

In case you were considering this shopping strategy, I do NOT recommend it. It leads to stress.

Initially, this strategy was developed in order to make my husband participate in the shopping process. I didn’t feel right buying gifts for people I barely knew (aka his family), but after 20 years together, I know his family and can buy good gifts for them without his input. Plus, he gets annoyed and tired in stores. He is always amazed at how rude people are while shopping. This is because he pays attention to his fellow shoppers.

For the last couple of years, however, I have tried to shop earlier. Last year, I even ventured out during Black Friday. While the deals were great, it was an adventure I did not repeat this year.

New for me this year was online shopping. I am not a big online shopper. Normally, I might buy one or two books online from Amazon during an entire year. This is usually because I can’t find those books in my local stores. Everything else I buy? In person.

This year changed all that. Primarily because I started reading an online blog about great deals (Wantnot.net). But also because I received a Kindle for my birthday, and I have went a little overboard in purchasing books. It is OK though since 98 percent of the books I have bought are the free books available. If this wasn’t true, I would probably be in deep trouble with my husband.

But hitting that “buy with one click” button for all those free books made it easier for me to consider shopping online this holiday season. And now? I think I am hooked and definitely became best friends with Amazon.com. No one else has sent me nearly 50 emails this month, although all of Amazon’s emails tend to start out saying the same thing, “Thank you for your purchase.” And yes, they send those out when your purchase is even $0.00.

Note to self: It probably isn’t a good idea to take your Thanksgiving vacation someplace without internet when you have finally decided to take advantage of the online shopping thing. Plus, it also put a big damper in your plans to grade all of those papers that students submitted online, which required internet to access. End Note to Self.

Anywho, I am over the moon about all the great deals I bought. And (bonus) I have once again grown to love my UPS/USPS/FED-EX delivery guy because just about every day, he has been bringing me magical boxes of goodies. OK, that one time he left the box out in the rain for my father-in-law to save, but it was OK because that was a textbook delivery. It was the WRONG textbook, but still? Couldn’t he have left it inside the parked car in my driveway? It was RAINING.

I just have to share with you all of the great deals I nabbed. I bought this for my child, and I got this for the other child. For two of my children, they will be opening this on Christmas morning. To help keep the two items clearly identifiable, I have also purchased these. I even think Santa bought this and this to put in some stockings.

Dear Reader, Yes, I do know that I didn’t actually link to anything.

I can’t. (But isn’t my 404 page lovely?)

If I linked, my children would know what I bought, so I can’t link. But trust me, you would be oohing and ahhing if I had actually linked to anything.

Love,
Linda

OK, I will give you one example. There is a movie that my family would like. In my local stores that movie costs about $20 plus tax. I bought it online for $3.99 PLUS free shipping. There is also a CD that my family would like. In my local stores, it is something like $17.99 plus gas to drive to and from the store. Online, I nabbed it for less than $10 with free shipping AND ended up with a purchasing credit for an MP3 download. Most online stores got it going on.

Um, may I just make a comment about stocking stuffers for a moment? Yesterday, at one of the online stores, I perused a list of “stocking stuffer” gift ideas. It included items that cost $100 and up.
Dear Store without a Brain,
Stocking Stuffers do NOT cost $100 and up. If someone spends $100 or more on something, it deserves to be its own gift. It is NOT a stocking stuffer. The definition of stocking stuffer does not depend on SIZE. Just because something fits in a stocking, it is not a stocking stuffer. While I am in the “click to buy” mode, I am not insane. I will not buy your $100 stocking stuffer. Or if I do, I will ignore your description and will not stuff it into a stocking. At $100, it is a gift. And to prove it, I just might wrap it up in a giant box.
Love, Me.

Also, as long as I’m writing letters about stocking stuffers,
Dear Children,
When I was a young child, stocking stuffers including things like an apple and an orange and lots of underwear and socks. As a child, I knew what a sorry state of affairs this was, but I did not have access to Santa nor did I have any sway with the elves. Now that I am an adult, and a parent, I know Santa very well, and he and I had a long talk about the error of his past ways. You will never find underwear or socks in your stocking. There may, however, be an orange because as Santa pointed out, the orange fills out the toe of the stocking very nicely. Plus, it is a family tradition.
Love, Mom.

Category: Life with Linda  Tags: , , ,  Comments off

Red vs Blue vs Electronic

13
Jul 2010


When I grade student papers, I never use a red pen. The color red has negative connotations. Many students see the red ink and think all of the teacher’s comments are negative even though the comments aren’t negative.

Red ink has been compared to blood, and a paper covered in red ink is bleeding. The teacher has slayed the paper, killing it. Would you want a slayed paper returned to you?

Recently, a researcher at California State University, Northridge, released a study that suggested using red ink led the user to be more critical when editing text. In other words, the same paper would be graded a C by those using red ink and a B- by those using blue ink.

The study didn’t use teachers, but instead volunteers and students to determine users were more critical when wielding a red pen.

And so, research supports my tendency, which is why I mostly used green ink when I graded papers. But I learned something. It takes a LONG time to reply by hand to papers. There wasn’t always enough room on the paper, and after a while, my handwriting became more and more illegible, which defeats the purpose of writing comments.

Plus, once in a while, I would jot something down and then realize that what I just said the student needed, they did in the very next line. Or what I thought was a mistake wasn’t a mistake. But the comment was already there, and I couldn’t retract it.

Or could I?

I was teaching online, and in my online classes, my comments were legible, and if I changed my mind, I could delete the comment. I didn’t have to worry about running out of room or finding space near the relevant text. I just highlighted the area I was referring to, and inserted my comment in the margin of the paper.

It took a bit, but I eventually switched my face to face classes to electronic submission, which let me respond to every student using my computer.

There were other benefits. In Word 2003, I was able to use macros. This meant I didn’t have to retype the same comment over and over again. Instead, I could store the most used comments and easily adapt them.

In Word 2007, however, macros were frustrating for me. I was back to keeping a Word document full of comments to copy and paste as needed. I wanted something better.

And I have found it in Annotate! It’s a plug-in for Word 2007, and it has prewritten comments that I can customize and insert with a single click. It lets me create customized comments.

Even better, in addition to a comment, it also provides a link to resources to help students learn about the mistake.

And unlike my messy Word document, Annotate keeps all of my comments organized into categories (argument, evidence, organization, writing style, grammar/mechanics).

When I first loaded the free version of Annotate, I was amazed that some of the comments sounded like something I would have written. It took me a bit, but I realized that they were something I had written. Annotate had integrated those macros that I had created long ago but never quite managed to figure out how to use quickly and easily.

Plus, it gives students so much more information that really improves their writing. When I was writing those hand-written comments, I may have written AWK a time or two. It stood for “awkward,” but it didn’t help the student fix it.

In Annotate, the exact awkward part is highlighted, and the comment begins with a question: “Can you revise this to make it less awkward?” It doesn’t stop there. It follows up with an explanation of what awkward means, “Awkward writing is confusing to your reader and hurts your credibility as a writer. See the general proofreading suggestions in the following link:”

The links automatically direct students to specific pages at one of my favorite resources, OWL at Purdue University, but I can also edit the comment to refer students to the relevant page in their writer’s handbook.

In the free version, there are 70 prewritten comments. The Pro version has about 200 prewritten comments. You can also add customized comments in the Pro version.

The pro version is about $50, and you can buy more than one version for just $10 more. So if you have Word 2010 at school and Word 2007 at home, it will cost just $60. Or the change might be Vista versus XP. It is still just $10.

I downloaded the free version of Annotate, and I love it. I have not yet purchased the pro version because I am hoping to update my laptop this summer. Right now my laptop is Vista, and I will be upgrading to Windows 7 as soon as I can convince my husband. I’m waiting for the laptop upgrade before investing in the pro version, but I will be buying the Pro version. I am thrilled with it.

Now I just wonder about the impact of using computers to offer students feedback.

(This is NOT a paid review. I did not receive any compensation for this. It is a product I discovered and tried on my own and loved. I know others will love it too.)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Category: Teaching, Teaching Resources  Tags: , , ,  Comments off
« Previous Entries