Who Says Language is Boring?

Anyone who plays Scrabble or Words With Friends can tell you, there's no such thing as enough words.  When you are playing these kinds of games, the more words you have in your vocabulary, the better you can play.  I know I certainly am learning a lot of new words I would never have considered to BE words if I hadn't started playing WWF with a couple of people.

I, for one, am intrigued by the way the English language changes constantly, not just by adopting words and terms from other languages, but by inventing new ones.  I remember reading a book by Andrew Clements a few years ago called Frindle.  Its the story of a boy who gets into an argument with his English teacher about whether or not the language could be changed any more.  In order to prove her wrong, he gets a few of his friends to use the word 'frindle' for that thing you write with that uses ink.  I won't tell you any more, other than to say its a fun, quick read.  Sorry, but its a professional perogative to get you to read the book!  Check it out at your local Library.

Well, now it’s that special time of the year for lexicographers (you know, those are people who just LOVE to keep track of and compile those big, fancy words).

This past week, Merriam-Webster announced its annual list of the newest additions to its Collegiate Dictionary.  This year, however, there was a bomb included—more specifically, the term “F-bomb.”


The term “F-bomb” makes it into the dictionary for the first time, even though it has been printed in newspapers for more than 20 years, according to an article by the Associated Press.

In addition, the words ‘sexting,’ ‘flexitarian,’ ‘obesogenic,’ ‘energy drink,’ and ‘life coach’ also make it into the official lexicon, along with about 94 additional words.

Before a word can be added to the lexicon, the company, based in Springfield, MA, tracks it for several years noting its use in media and general society. In the case of ‘F-bomb’ (not the F word itself), the term was traced back to a 1988 Newsday story where Mets catcher Gary Carter talked about how he had stopped using them and then in stories about a locker room tirade by Bobby Knight in the late 1990’s which was filled with expletives. These expletives were reported as ‘F-bombs’ to avoid the word itself and thereby get around any censorship issues. The same thing happened in 2004 when Dick Cheney dropped the word in the Senate and again when Joe Biden did the same thing in 2010. So, although some dictionaries and other sources have listed the word before this, Merriam-Webster is just now adding it and making it official.

Other terms and words that have made the list include:

Sexting (the sending of provocative images as text), Flexitarian (a person “whose normally meatless diet occasionally includes meat or fish”), Obesogenic (refers to an environment where something or some pattern promotes weight gain or produces obesity), Underwater (owing more on a mortgage than the property is worth), Toxic (as in an asset that has lost so much value that it cannot be sold on the market), Earworm (that annoying melody you can't stop thinking about), Craft Beer (beverages made in small batches by small or amateur brewers), e-Reader (devices on which readers can read books, magazines and newspapers in electronic format), Game Changer (something which forces people or situations to go in a different direction).

Others include: Man Cave, brain cramp, bucket list, 'aha' moment, 'systemic risk,' ', Gastropub, Geocaching, Shovel-ready (a construction site ready for work), Tipping Point, and a new definition for 'Gassed' as a slang term for drained of energy.

Back to School Time!

Here I go again!  I'm going to leave this as an open listing of links appropriate for Back to School.  As I find them, I'll keep adding them.  All you need to do is click on the link.

Opening Day Ideas from the National Education Association.

Top Teen Reads

I seem to post more links than original posts, but here's another one!  :-)

Anyway, NPR recently had an article about the top 100 books for Young Adults.  I was quite impressed with the list which included classics (expected) and very new (surprisingly pleased) titles.  Take a look.  I think you'll be pleased with the options.

Politicians and Big Business Get it Wrong...Again

There were a couple of articles online recently that I think missed the whole point.  Not too surprising since the writers' perspectives are from the political and business (read Money) ends.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-worst-masters-degree/2012/07/08/gJQAfm6BXW_blog.html

http://neatoday.org/2012/07/09/politicians-ignore-research-say-smaller-class-size-makes-no-difference/

Update

Hello, All.

I want to thank everyone who sent me messages of support and concern regarding my mother.

While the diagnosis is horrific and the timeframe uncertain, she is actually doing much better.  She has been removed from the residential hospice and we moved her into an assisted living facility with hospice services.  She is stable and getting comfortable with her new situation.  She's exhausted from all of the changes of the past 8 weeks, but thankfully, she has experienced no discomfort or pain.

So, again, thank you for your support.  Keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming for her.

Thank you.

Update, November 15, 2012
For anyone who is interested, we lost Mom on September 1, 2012 to metasticized endrometrial cancer caused by a protocol of Tomoxifin following breast cancer surgery. 

They had gotten all the initial cancer due to very early diagnosis and put her on the drug to ensure its nonrecurrance.  Unfortunately, as she was finishing the protocol, it was announced that Tomoxifin can lead to endrometrial cancers, which she developed approximately 10 years later.  She had a hysterectomy two years ago and we were told the tumor was well-contained and they had gotten it all.  Obviously, they hadn't.

She passed away quietly, surrounded by her family with her hands held by her daughter and son.

She was a wonderful, giving woman who would give everything she had to anyone who needed it.  She had a difficult life, being an unwanted child.  She was determined that her children and grandchildren would know how much they were wanted and loved. 

I'm happy to say that there are no regrets that things were not said or done.  We talked extensively all the time, not just within the past few months, but for years.  We were completely open with each other and were blessed to have had the time to say everything we needed to.  My only sadness comes when I do/see/hear something and want so desperately to tell her and I can't.  I love her dearly and that will never die.

Mom will be missed forever. 

Ich Liebe Dich, Mutti!

Oh, Yeah!

This was posted on a friend's Facebook page.  He got it from David Stebbings' 'I Love Libraries' website.  I agree wholeheartedly!  YA novels are wonderful!  I enlarged it so you can read it easily.

Sorry for the lack of posts

I just wanted to apologize for not having posted anything for a while.  A couple of days after my last post, we received word that my mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and we were under the distinct impression she would probably not last the week.  I rushed out to Wisconsin from Rhode Island to be with her.  We have been very lucky that she has actually recovered to the point that we are working on removing her from Hospice and getting her into Assisted Living with Hospice where she can meet new friends and participate more than she can now.  She has been in the current location for 3 weeks now, and we were told the average stay is just 6 days.  To all my friends and colleagues, thank you for your thoughts and prayers.  We have been blessed with extra time with her.

Save the Date!

Save the dates!

The AASL Fall Forum will be held in Greenville, SC on October 12 and 13, 2012 (Friday and Saturday).  The theme is "Transliteracy and the School Library Program."  Registration is currently open and conference information is available at this link.

Also, the American Association of School Librarians recently announced the dates and locations for the 16th and 17th Conferences.  See the link above.

The 16th Conference will be held November 13-17, 2013 in Hartford, CT.

The 17th Conference will be held October 15-18, 2013 in Columbus, OH.

Keep checking for more information as it is released.

In the meantime, don't forget the ALA Annual Conference being held in Anaheim, CA on June 21-26, 2012.  There's a lot to see and learn, not only at the conference, but in southern California.  In addition to the wonderful sessions, there are plenty of activities in which to participate.  Disneyland, anyone?  Don't forget the Rock Bottom Remainders will be performing on Saturday at 8 p.m.  (If you've never seen them, they are a group of authors who get together and perform.  They're actually pretty good!  Members include Stephen King, Amy Tan, Mitch Albom, Dave Barry, Matt Groening, Scott Turow, Ridley Pearson, Greg Iles, James McBride, Roy Blount, Jr., Kathi Goldmark and Sam Barry. Roger McGuinn of The Byrds joins the band as special musical guest.)

Early Bird registration is now open.

Mark your calendars now and we'll hope to see you there!

Solar Eclipse Sunday

Did you know there will be a solar eclipse on Sunday, May 20?

The eclipse this weekend is referred to as an 'Annular' eclipse because the moon is at its farthest distance from the Earth. As a result, the moon will not fully cover the sun. At the height of the eclipse, the sun will be seen as a 'Ring of Fire' in the sky. It should be a spectacular sight.


Unfortunately for those of us on the East Coast of the United States, we won't be able to enjoy the show, which begins on Sunday night around 5 p.m. in the US.  The eclipse this time runs from China to the Southwest United States, although people as far east as the Appalachian Mountains will see some effect. 

However, all is not lost.  There are many sites online which will be tracking and showing the eclipse.  Here are just a few (thanks to MSN.com):

• Slooh Space Camera: The Slooh website has organized a series of webcasts from Japan, California, Arizona and New Mexico, accompanied by commentary from Astronomy Magazine columnist Bob Berman and Lucie Green, a BBC commentator and solar researcher at University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory. The show gets started at 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday, when the eclipse will be just getting good in Japan. Prime time for the webcasts from the American West will kick in around 8 p.m. ET. For more, check out Slooh's news release.
• Eclipse Live from Fujiyama: Panasonic is planning a solar-powered webcast from high atop Japan's Mount Fuji, which is inside the track of annularity. The team will charge up batteries from an array of electricity-generating solar cells at a base camp, then carry the batteries up to the camera site. Video coverage via Ustream is due to start up at 5 p.m. ET. This YouTube video previews the event. For updates, check out the project's Facebook page and Twitter stream.
• Hong Kong Observatory: The webcast from Hong Kong is due to begin at 5:41 p.m. ET
• Live-Eclipse: Japanese eclipse-chasers plan to be webcasting via Ustream at 6 p.m. ET.
• YokosoNews: This page from the Japanese news site lists lots of webcasts, generally beginning at 5 p.m. ET or later.
• Ustream: Do a search on "eclipse" and you'll find all sorts of Ustream goodies, from 5 p.m. ET onward. One user is promising a video stream from the northern tip of Taiwan starting at 4:50 p.m. ET.
• AstroBob's viewing guide: Duluth photographer Bob King provides a vivid guide to the phases of an annular eclipse and also links to AstronomyLive.com as a potential source of webcasts.
• University of North Dakota: UND's SEMS (Sun Earth Moon Systems) team is organizing an eclipse webcast from Shasta College in Whittier, Calif. The streaming is due to begin at 8 p.m. ET, and there's a chat window that lets you compare notes with other eclipse fans. The UND team has been doing eclipse webcasts since 2004, so they've built up a loyal following over the years.
• Scotty's Sky: Skywatcher Scotty Degenhardt is promising an unconventional webcast of the annular eclipse via his iPhone from Area 51's "Black Mailbox," a popular gathering place for UFO fans in the Nevada desert. The show is set to start at 8:10 p.m. ET. Check out Degenhardt's website for the details.
• Exploratorium in Second Life: Speaking of "unconventional" ... San Francisco's Exploratorium science center is planning to provide information about the eclipse in the Second Life virtual world. If you're a Second Life resident, set a course for Exploratorium Island.

 If, however, you miss the entire show, you'll have another chance on June 5, 2012, when the planet Venus crosses between the Earth and the sun.  Then, on November 13, 2012, there will be a total eclipse.

 

VERY IMPORTANT: Remember to take the proper precautions when viewing the eclipse such as using special eclipse-viewing glasses, filters on telescopes or binoculars, or pin-hole projectors.  NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN.  You can get more details by checking the NASA website.  Also, check out this video at Eyes On the Sky.

EdCamp Boston 2012: A Different Way to Conference

Actually, the title is inaccurate.

The EdCamps (there have been over 90 of them so far) are actually Unconferences. There is a nice article in Edutopia which explains the theory and history of unconferences. I had my first experience with one just this past March at the NESLA Unconference in Bedford, New Hampshire. While there, the leaders had a Skype session with EdCamp director Dan Callahan. He told us about the Boston meeting for April 28 and half of the group (including me!) immediately went online with whatever device they had to register for the day. It was wonderful!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, the basic idea is that a place and time is provided. Attendees then determine the topics to be discussed with one of them being the leader/facilitator. These sessions are then posted on a master schedule board so that everyone can see which sessions will be held in which locations at which time. This takes about 10-20 minutes, depending on the size of the group, to get the master schedule set up. If need be, it can be updated at any time. At the Boston event, the schedule was then posted online on a Google Doc which allowed the 200+ participants to check it frequently wherever they were in the building.

The wonderful aspect is that, no matter what your level of expertise, there was someone able and willing to help you. Sessions ranged from "PLNs and Twitter 101" to "Digital Photography in the Classroom" to "QR Codes and Augmented Reality" and a lunch jam session with other Librarians. There was a lot of variety. In addition, people were tweeting all day with information they were picking up so that, if you weren't in a particular session, you could still get the information at a later point.

One of the reasons I love going to professional conferences is the fact that we are actually treated like professionals! There was an acknowledgement that we DO know what we are doing and, if we don’t, we know how and where to obtain this information because we are constantly learning. We are not belittled because we admit to this need. It was nice having contact with other people from outside our own districts to let us know that we are not alone. Participants came from a variety of communities ranging from wealthy suburbs with few limitations on types of, or access to, technology to cash-strapped, large urban districts with extremely limited technological equipment and access. There is a constant atmosphere of sharing information, ideas and knowledge.  (I’d like to give a little shout-out to the youngest EdCamper ever, 6-week-old Oliver, who attended with his parents!)

I have to acknowledge the beautiful location for this unconference. We were at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center (yes, it’s called NERD!) in Cambridge, MA in Harvard and MIT country on the beautiful Charles River. If it had been warmer, I think many people would have sat out on the patio overlooking the river. It was fun looking out from the 11th floor and watching the scullers and sailboaters practicing their skills. We sprawled out throughout the building to attend all the sessions. In addition, they provided us with a continental breakfast and a delicious lunch. Refreshments were also available all day. If someone found that there was nothing in particular for that session time, there were many couches and soft chairs in which to relax and explore some of the resources that had been mentioned at an earlier session. Wireless Internet access was SO easy anywhere in the building! (Hey, we were at Microsoft—are you surprised?) At the end of the day, many of the participants adjourned to a local pub about a block away where many continued the socializing on both professional and personal levels. The team is already planning next year’s EdCamp. If I could make some suggestions, I would like to see a few more tables and access for power cords. I know I appreciate having a table on which to write and, with everyone encouraged to bring their own technology (BYOT), there is no such thing as too much power access! I encourage everyone to consider attending this incredible day. A big THANK YOU goes to the various team members: Dan Callahan, Laura Delia, Liz Davis, Karen Jan (sorry, I didn’t get her whole name), T. Sockonosky and all the others who helped make the day a success.

You don’t have to take my word for all this. I am including some links to blogs from other attendees. There are some photographs, also. If you look at the EdCamp link at the beginning of this post, there is a listing of other EdCamps all over the world on the far right.  You can probably find one nearby on that list.

I hope to see you there!

Links to other blogs about EdCamp Boston 2012:

       • http://technicallyali.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/reflections-on-edcamp-boston-from-an-independent-school-teacher/
       • http://edcampboston.posterous.com/i-had-a-wicked-good-time-at-edcampbos
       • http://technologicalontogeny.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/a-full-meal/


Resource lists:

       • http://edcampboston.posterous.com/presentation-tools
       • Smackdown list      (This is a list of resources participants have found to be useful.)

Webinars are the New Conferences!

If you never thought you could attend a conference outside of a 50-mile distance from home, you've got another think coming!

Webinars are an exciting way to meet and network with hundreds of people you might never have had a chance to have contact.

There will be a new day of FREE webinars sponsored by Classroom 2.0, an online community to share ideas to improve classrooms.  As of now, there are over 70 different sessions with a wide variety of topics listed for presentation on April 21.  Check here for the schedule.  All sessions will be approximately 30 minutes in length, although some may go a little longer if the discussion warrants.

Check it out.  You won't be sorry!

Updating!

"Updating."  What a loaded title that is!  I have so much to share that I really couldn't think of a better heading!

First of all, I wanted to make notations about upcoming events that pertain to the Library community:

1. The annual conference for the School Librarians of Rhode Island (formerly known as RIEMA) will be held on Thursday, March 29, 2012 at the Crowne Plaze Hotel in Warwick.  Registration and breakfast start about 7:30, followed by the opening remarks and then the sessions.  Be sure to stay for the Great Giveaway at the end of the day.  Remember, you must be present to win!  For more information, click here.
2. The New England School Librarians' Association will hold their annual conference in Bedford, NH on Saturday, March 24, 2012.  This is being advertised as an UN-Conference, where the emphasis is placed on participation by the membership in discussions facilitated by leading Librarians and other educators.
3. Don't forget that April is School Library Month.  April 8-14 is recognized as National Library Week with April 10 honoring Library Workers.  Library Legislative Day is actually two days, April 23-24.
4. May 1-7 is Choose Privacy Week, where people, especially young adults, are reminded to be aware of the many ways information is gathered, stored, used and shared via their many online presences.  Suggestions on how to protect yours and their personal information can be found here.
5. The annual ALA Conference will be held this year in Anaheim, CA from June 21-26, 2012--that's just 3 months away, folks!  Registration has already begun for Early Bird (read: less expensive!) registration.  The information for this incredible week of meetings, exhibits and networking can be found here. 

The Hunger Games movie will be opening on March 23, 2012.  This highly anticipated film is sure to be popular.  Check your local listings for theaters and times to see it.  I'll be attending with members of my Book Club.

New Look!

We have a new look!

I've been updating items on this blog: adding and subtracting and moving things around.  I found a background that looks like a bookshelf, so...

I still like the old design, but this one allows for more widgets and gadgets.  ;-)

Hope you like the new design!

Wow!  I just looked here and discovered its been almost an entire YEAR since I posted last!  There's no excuse.  I HAVE to do better than that!

I am planning on writing about some of the Web 2.0 tools I have been introduced to and explored.

Talk to you later!