The secrets are out

About a week ago, I asked readers to contribute a personal secret about teaching and learning.  I had gotten this idea while listening to the radio as Frank Warren was discussing his bookand blog, called PostSecret, where people send in postcards with their personal secrets.  I thought it would be interesting to find out what others have to say privately about themselves with teaching and learning.  Today’s the first of a couple of posts where I’m going to share what folks submitted. (If you’d like to add you secret, you still can and I’ll insert it in.  Check this form out to add your secret.)

I remember very little from what I read. Most of the time, I find it helpful to scan the content first and then reread.  But most of all, what helps me retain the information and connect the dots is a discussion among peers.

I only cut one class in college ever.

Always be kind, courteous, and respectful to everyone in your school or work setting.  The secretary, the custodian….they all can make your life easier or a whole more miserable!

I do not like teachers drinking coffee and sitting on their desk  when they expect their students to sit in the desk and wait for their snack at break time.

More are coming.  What’s your secret?  Add it in here.

Image from stevedepolo from flickr.com

Whisper in my ear … I promise not to tell.

I don’t know if you remember.  But a few years back a book came out where folks would send a postcard to this guy.  On the postcard would be a secret. He has a blog, too, called PostSecret.  Well, I was listening to NPR the other day, and the author Frank Warren was on talking about a new book that’s coming out.

It got me to thinking:  What secrets do I have about teaching, learning, training, and instructional design?

And so I thought, what if others have secrets, too?  What would they be?  So, I decided to give it a shot.  I’ve created a little form below for you to type in your secret.  I promise it is anonymous.  I have no way of know who entered each secret.

So, what’s your secret?

• Maybe it’s a secret about teaching with adolescents.
• Maybe it’s a secret about building training in your company.
• Maybe, you don’t really like something about your job.
• Maybe, you never bought a single textbook during your sophomore year in college.

In any case, enter your secret below.  I’ll compile them, and publish them in a few days.  I encourage you to pass this on to your colleagues, so they can enter their secrets.  If you have suggestions or comments about this idea, please add those in the comments below, too.

Chocalicious: Relief from the heat and the economy

One of my daughters’ favorite books is Pinkalicious (as well as the sequel Purplelicious and the newly published Goldalicious). Well, in the flavor of Pinkalicious, I am here to offer you Chocolicious, which I am sure is just a month or two down the road from being published.

A few weeks ago, the Mars Chocolate company, makers of all things fine and chocolate and warm and comforting started a compaign for economic relief with free chocolate called Real Chocolate Relief Act.  Many of you know that there are two things I appreciate most: free and chocolate.  Many of you also know that I can be bribed with a bag of M & Ms.  So, this is no joke.  When it comes to chocolate, I’m as serious as a heart attack.

Each Friday until September, Mars will give away 250,000 coupons for a free full-sized candy bar/M & Ms. It’s real. I’m telling you it’s real. I’ve done it multiple times, and I have received my coupons.  Follow the link and get yours (or forward them directly on to me): https://secure.realchocolate.com/default.aspx

Just so you don’t think I’m quite nuts, Comsumerist.com and Inquisitr.com also talked about this awesome opportunity and the incredible number of folks trying to log on and get their free stuff.

You oughta know when to go

photo credit: sjorford
While not eLearning and Web development, some stories beg to be shared. So, in the spirit of Diaroogle (and if you don’t know about that service or if you haven’t had a fall-out-of-your-chair-side-splitting laugh today then I encourage you to take a look), Runpee is a site that offers advice on when you should go to the bathroom during a movie. Now, I have only been to about a handful of movies in the last few years since having kids. But I have tried (emphasis on tried) to take my children to a movie, and I certainly needed to know when to take a wee one to potty. To this day I still have know idea how Wall-e ends. Between the bathroom and the scary robot chase scene, I’ve never seen the end. And with the cost of going to the movies near student-loan proportions, you definitely want to miss as little of the good stuff as possible. (Thanks to my fave Lifehacker for the heads up.)

Some made-up words are so apropos they should be published

I was scanning a copy of Windows IT Pro (does this create an image of geekdom that I should be ashamed of?) that my neighbor (Thanks, Judy!) dropped off.  Inside I discovered a list of sniglets. Do you know what sniglets are? Wikipedia says sniglets are:

Words that aren’t in the dictionary but should be.

Wired magazine often produces of list of these each month for techie jargon.  But a couple on this list were pretty funny and so spot on that I thought I’d share.  Here goes.

Crapplet—A poorly written or totally useless Java applet.  (Michael’s comment:  I believe this term extends across all applets, AJAX and interactive scripts.)

Egosurf—To search for yourself on Google or another search engine. (Michael’s comments:  Everybody’s done it.  You were appalled at what you found and/or didn’t find.  You vowed to change it.  Unfortunately, Google doesn’t lie.)

Bluetooth fairy—Someone who walks around with a blinking Bluetooth headset permanently affixed to his or her ear. (Michael’s comment: You’ve seen this, particuarly at the airport.  You even replied back to the person, because you thought he or she was talking to you.  Or you had to duck out of the way because the person was talking vigorously with his or her hands and you thought you were going to get hit.)

When I come across more, I’ll add them to another post.  But in the meantime, do you have any that you can add in the comments?