It's like if a ? and a ! made a baby.

I love punctuation. I despise the incorrect use of exclamation points or the use of too many of them. Whoever said using an exclamation point is like laughing at yourself is completely right. I stumbled upon an article/blog posting discussing the interrobang -- the combination of an exclamation point and question mark. You know, for those occasions need both, like: "You did what [insert interrobang here]"


As I type this, Firefox is claiming "interrobang" is spelled incorrectly. Catch up with the times, Firefox. Get rid of your little red squiggly line. It upsets me!

Now, I just need to figure out which commands I need to use on my Mac to get it to work.

The Culture of the Interrobang by Anne Trubek is clever and witty. And so, so true of today's times. Check it out!

I'm too dumb, I'll use others' genius.

"What would you do if you knew you could not fail?" ~ Robert H. Schuller

"Don't frown because it's over; smile because it happened." ~ Dr. Seuss

"Art means to dare--and to have been right." ~ Ned Rorem

"Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do no and do it." ~ William C. Durant

"Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture ofyourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously. Your mind will seek to develop the picture... Do not build up obstacles in your imagination." ~ Norman Vincent Peale

"If you don't invest very much, then defeat doesn't hurt very much and winning is not very exciting." ~ Dick Vermeil

"Kites fly highest against the wind, not with it." ~William Churchill

"The person who upsets you the most is your best teacher, because they bring you face to face with who you are." ~ Lynn Andrews

"I'm not young enough to know everything." ~ Oscar Wilde

Life Failure

I saw this quiz on MSN. I failed it. The quiz is a good reminder of how far education has come since back in the day!

Setting. Plot. Character. Resolution. Done.

I recently discovered a new card game during Educ 451 called "Nanofictionary." Basically, you collect a minimum of four cards (Setting, Plot, Character, Resolution) and make up a quick story. The game is awesome for literature classes (it teaches the reversed check mark), speech classes (it requires impromptu speaking skills, a voice, and storytelling skills), collaborative lesson planning (it can be tweaked to make into a group game rather than an individual vs. other individuals), and it helps critical thinking skills (some members of the game are judges).


The game would also be perfect for a creative writing unit. To get students started, give them each a character, plot, setting, and resolution card. Then, tell them to write a story based on that. You could require only a certain amount of words or put other restrictions on them.

Right now, the game is unavailable on most websites like Amazon because they're coming out with a new addition.

*friend* (Did I just cross a line?)

I found another great article on theapple today. Check it out!

As a student, I find social networking to be amazing. I have friended (I like how a noun has become a verb. Thanks, Mark Zuckerberg!) college professors and old high school teachers. I have also seen some of the pages of other high school and elementary teachers, and I'm surprised they would post some of the stuff that is on there. My philosophy, right now, is to maintain my Facebook page and this blog. I wouldn't friend current students of mine; however, after graduation I probably wouldn't have the same issue with it. An issue would come up if a graduated student friended me and his younger sibling or parents saw my page. Therefore, I believe it is probably in the best interest of everyone to maintain a more professional relationship until a student (and siblings) are long gone out of high school or just not do it at all.

"Blogging is easy. Writing is hard."

I was searching for ideas on writing prompts and came across this somewhat sketchy blog on Shine (the place I get my horoscopes). The blog isn't the best quality, nor does it look very reputable. After reading it completely, I realized the writer has no sense of grammatical or mechanical structure...or simple proofreading abilities. However, the original site I found the 50 Ideas on had the link to where she found the 50 Writing Ideas originally. In any case here are the sites: Sketchy Shine Blog and Original, Not Sketchy Blog.

The second site isn't as questionable as the first site and it explains the point of the 50 Writing Ideas. The site I found the ideas on has a couple of examples in the comments section, which makes it a little better. Look for yourselves. In either case, both sites have the same information.

Coffee and Communication

"Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee...
and just as hard to sleep after." ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I was reading my homework assignment for my Creative Writing class, and I came across this quotation. In my personal life I am anxiously awaiting a response from a recent interview so communication has been at the front of my mind. I think this quotation is a perfect reminder of how much fun communication can be. If I get the job, I'm definitely sharing this with my students!