OMG- (text-talk) not in school:(

Students know the difference between text-talk and standard English usage and rarely confuse the two. Today’s San Diego Union-Tribune ran a story citing information garnered from a research study released Thursday involving a survey of 700 teens and parents. The significant finding was that, “65 percent of youngsters ages 12 to 17 have used emoticons (combinations of symbols that reveal facial expressions), text shortcuts and informal language in school assignments.” Big surprise, students know and use text lingo; it does not follow that they use it in serious assignments. If anything, they now have a type of shorthand they use for note taking and for the first draft of more formal assignments. The problem arises when the draft(s) haven’t been thoroughly proofed and the shortcuts and symbols slink through. Text-talk is another language and one that students have a lot of fun with and display their creativity. One parent said, “at least they’re writing.”

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Almost the end of school--plan wisely

In just seven weeks students, parents and teachers will be swamped by end of the year work, performances, parties and summer planning. Standardized testing, AP tests, SAT, etc. are all in the next few weeks. This is the time to bring out a blank calendar where every deadline and event can be posted and even color-coded. We are doing this with every student at Study Depot, so there will be no surprises and the students will experience, first hand, the benefits of careful time management. If they are consistently reminded the management of their assignments and the due dates, it will result in much better grades on tests and final grades--this is the confidence builder all students need. I

If you have other helpful hints, please email cchristopher@studydepot.com and we can post them.

Shortcuts

“There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going to.” Beverly Sills, opera singer.

In this insanely paced world, it is almost impossible to ignore shortcuts when they appear; it always seems like a good idea and they’ll get us where we need to go much more quickly--so why not? Usually, they backfire. Speaking in the philosophical sense, knowing where you want to go, believing it is possible, visualizing it constantly and doing the necessary “grunt work” is the only way to get anywhere truly worth going to.



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