Savvy Sites 1

Whether or not you are an educator, many of these sites may be of interest to you.  The following are links to helpful tools, interesting reads, and practical advice I’ve happily discovered or revisited within the past couple of weeks as I plan for the new school year.  For those I stumbled upon via my invaluable Twitter friends, Grading Girl thanks you!  Here goes . . . GG’s first savvy site faves:

Sites that will help classroom organization and incorporation of technology

• Twitter in the Classroom: (yes, yes . . . must try!)

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dcf23zfg_27fdcsg9gs

• Twitter for Teachers: (need I say more!  I’d like to require my students to open a Twitter account and use it for interactive quizzes )

http://www.diigo.com/list/cedpaine/twitter-guides-for-teachers

• Links to School Bloggers: (click on these when you have some time to read . . . great advice and ways to incorporate blogging, technology)

http://supportblogging.com/page/diff/Links+to+School+Bloggers/83381337#htmldiff2

• Teaching with Technology: (so, so, so many tools and links here – bookmark this!)

http://ipt286.pbworks.com/Index

• Teaching English with Tech:  (many excellent links here for those wanting to know where to begin to incorporate blogging into the classroom)

http://tewt.org/englishteachersites.html

• A  simple management tool: (I looove this stopwatch tool!!)

http://viigo.im/0rep

• Top 5 Citation Applications: (very good cites for students to use when writing analysis and research papers)

http://instructify.com/2009/07/16/top-5-citation-applications

• Interactive Graphic Organizer: (very cool for teachers and/or students)

http://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/igo.htm

• My Backpack – Online Applications (many tools here!)

http://www.goodhue.k12.mn.us/school242/genie224/images/files/backpack2009d2.html

Sites I will use with my Speech Communication classes:

• How Obama could eliminate his ums: (very interesting and practical)

http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/delivery/obama-eliminate-ums/

• Ad Views: (this is excellent for my persuasion unit)

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adviews/

American Rhetoric:  The Power of Oratory in the United States (wow, what a plethora of famous speeches at one’s fingertips)

http://www.americanrhetoric.com

Sites I will use with my Reading classes:

• Three-Minute Fiction: NPR (an excellent way to open a class . . . can also serve as supplements to units)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyld=105660765

• Kelly Gallagher – Building Deeper Readers and Writers (I continually refer to Gallagher when planning reading and writing workshops)

http://www.kellygallagher.org/index.html

• Story Quotations (excellent motivators and class openings)

http://www.storycon.org/quotations.htm

• Skype other Classrooms: (a few years ago at a conference, I presented a way to connect students to other classrooms via online journals . . . this brings it to a whole new level)

http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/want-to-connect-with-other-classrooms/

• ReadWriteThink:  Student Materials (a classic site I always turn to!)

http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp

Sites I will use for my Senior Expository Comp classes:

• Beloit College Mindset List (this is eye-opening!!  I’ll use it as a reflective essay opener)

http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2013.php

• Brainstormer Applications (a cool little tool when you students say they have nothing to write about)

http://www.distractionbeast.com/brainstormer.swf

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Are you hoping or hopeful?

Being hopeful is a good thing.  It is always better to see the glass half full than half empty.  Overusing the word hopefully, on the other hand,  is not such a good thing.

Hope vs. Hopefully 

The word hopefully is an adverb.  An adverb is a word that describes a verb, so hopefully is a word that describes how something is done. Polly Pocket skipped hopefully down the grassy path means that Polly Pocket skipped in a hopeful manner down the path; it describes the way in which she skipped. It’s an active process; in other words, it’s something that we can control.

The adverb hopefully, then, should not be used synonymously with the phrase I hope since hope means a wish or a desire.  Hopefully, he will win the race is incorrect.  I hope he wins the race is the correct way to phrase that.  When we hope, the outcome is out of our control. In other words, it’s a very passive act, and using hopefully for I hope is a grammar error.  And why would we want to be passive and incorrect at the same time?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with hoping; however, we always have more success when we actively pursue things than we do when we wish for the best.  So GG’s advice is to be active and decide to use these words correctly. 

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You Guys Can’t Be With Yous Guys

A follower just asked me if “yous guys” is proper English.  This is a great question, considering the amount of colloquial language thrown around carelessly every day.  As the school year creeps upon us, now is the perfect time to clean up our communication skills.

You Guys vs. Yous Guys

Let’s set the record straight away:  Yous guys is improper English.  Do not say it, do not write it, and do not even think it.  The extra ‘s’ is mistakingly added by those who believe there is a plural form of ‘you.’  Unlike numerous other languages, English does not have a plural form of you.  (Incidentally, this is the same mistake made when speaking the phrase ‘y’all.’  Again, there is no need to pluralize you with the word ‘all.’  ‘You’ is the pronoun that refers to one person or to a number of people.  The form never changes.)  If you must use this colloquial phrase, use you guys.

Grading Girl actually doesn’t like to use the phrase at all.  It sounds colloquial and lowers the speaking level.  You guys is commonly used to address multiple people at once. The person speaking the phrase is often angry and upset. The individual often does not know whom or where to direct his/her anger or lecture  so the individual directs it at an often innocent, larger audience.  This is commonly heard in the workplace where one tries to curtail his/her frustrations while maintaining anonymity.

GG’s bottom line:  Try to avoid you guys because of its colloquial connotation but never use yous guys because of its improper form of you.

Thank you to my follower, Lori Lewis, for the question. Keep the grammar questions coming, GG readers. I post a mini-lesson every Tuesday for TeacherTuesday on Twitter!

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Is it Worse to Say Worst?

I could write 1,000 mini-lessons and still not cover all of the confusing words in the English language.

Worse vs. Worst

Worse is a comparative.  Use it when comparing two things, just like better only in the negative instead of the positive. This means when comparing two things, one will always be “worse” and not “worst” than the other.

The Worst Idea Ever!!!

Example:  Cardio is worse than strength training because it takes longer.

Worst is a superlative.  Think of worst like best, only in the negative. When something is much more terrible than multiple items, it is the “worst” of them all.

Example:  The worst idea is to attempt to lift heavy weights while balancing on a ball.

GG says there may be worst things you could do, but it is worse to not speak at all than to speak incorrectly. 

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News Flash – No One Can Eat Healthy!

A couple of months ago, my brother brought up the question as to the difference between healthy and healthful.  I was on vacation visiting at the time and put it in the back of my mind to think about later.  Writing my most recent post about my favorite snack made me recall that question.  I’m always up for a healthful debate, so here goes:

Healthful vs. Healthy

According to the Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, the word healthful means “beneficial to health of body or mind” or contributing to good health.  Healthy means “enjoying the state of good health” or being free of disease.

If we go by these definitions, it makes sense that things are healthful and people are healthy.  Right?  That would mean that all those eat clean diets out there are not healthy.  That would also mean that we can’t eat healthy.  Before you go digging into that ice cream, know this.  We can eat healthful diets.  And, yes, we can engage in healthful eating.  We will be more healthy because of it.   As with many words in our English language, there’s a tricky little inconsistency to keep in mind:  if we are describing food as free of disease, we can refer to it as healthy.  Otherwise, food that is conducive to health is healthful food.

Some have written off the use of the word healthful as trendy; they say just use healthy instead.  Why bother with this?  I say why not use our words correctly?

GG’s examples to help you remember the difference:

I ate a healthy breakfast. (wrongo)

I ate a healthful breakfast.  (correctomundo)

I look healthy today after eating breakfast.  (okey dokey)

I can eat healthy fruits to keep me free from illness. (right on)

Those healthful protein bars look good to me.  (yes sirree)

Confused yet? If so, you’re in good company. I’ve seen these two words used interchangeably all the time. In GG’s opinion, though, it is unhealthful to mix the two.

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