Colleagues,

Do you use blogs in your high school teaching practice?

I am working on a doctoral research project at Nova Southeastern University that is trying to find out just how high school teachers are using blogs - how blogs are set up and managed, how students respond to blogging, and whether there are observable effects on students' writing skills.

Would you do the favor of taking a few minutes to complete an online survey that is part of this effort? Here's the link:
http://www.sitelineaz.com/21stCenturyTeachingSurvey.html

National Geographic reports that the 2006 Ig Nobels Prize for Literature went to Daniel Oppenheimer, a psychologist at Princeton University, for his research, "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly."

As National Geographic explains, Oppenheimer's research involves adding

complexity to existing samples of writing, inserting needlessly long words into a chunk of text. His aim was to assess readers' reactions to the excessive prose. "A majority of undergraduates admit to deliberately increasing the complexity of their vocabulary so as to give the impression of intelligence," Oppenheimer writes in his study. But in the experiment, readers judged the authors of the overwrought texts to be not-so-bright.

Be sure to read more about the Ig Nobels for a good laugh (for instance, see the ZDNet coverage). I didn't realize that the sound Matt shared with us previously which adults have trouble hearing was designed as a teenager repellant. LOL

As reported by Inside Higher Ed today, the Conference Board's Most Young People Entering the U.S. Workforce Lack Critical Skills Essential for Success is based on a survey of human resource personnel. Notably, writing has been "singled out" in this report as one area where new hires are least prepared:

Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of incoming high school graduates are viewed as deficient in basic English writing skills, including grammar and spelling. And, when asked about readiness with regard to applied skills related to the workplace, the greatest deficiency was reported in written communications (memos, letters, complex technical reports), and in professionalism and work ethic. Eighty-one percent of survey participants say their high school graduate hires were deficient in written communications.

Poor writing skills also continued to be a problem among both two-year and four-year college graduates. Nearly half of all survey participants (47 percent) report that two-year college graduates are deficient in this skill.

So...will writing teachers get blamed for this deficiency? Or will people begin to listen to us when we say we need smaller class sizes and that students could use even more writing courses?

My mother was eighty earlier this year, which prompted me to create an animated Flash portrait, incorporating three different pictures of her, twenty-one of her most characteristic phrases, and a clacketing noise which is a bit like a typewriter, knitting needles, or out-of-control false teeth.

http://www.edwardpicot.com/mum/