photo credit: Aunt Owwee

Happy Friday!  Here’s a little happiness…

• 10 Things to Avoid if you want to be Happy!
• 3 Tips for Optimism from Thomas Edison
• 4 Ways to Increase Happiness
• The Only Guide to Happiness You’ll Ever Need
• 7 How-to-be-Happy Lessons from Kids

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TGIF: Links to Inspire

photo credit: *Micky

Hello!  I’m finally starting to get a bit caught up again…  Balancing entering the classroom with running two blogs is a bit more time-consuming than I expected, but I think my head is above water again…

As the election gets ever closer, I thought the following links might be particularly interesting.  With such a focus on the economy, education has taken a bit of a backseat.  If you’re curious, check out each candidate’s educational platform:

• John McCain
• Barack Obama

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Candidates Education Platforms

photo credit: joiseyshowaa

TGIF!  Enjoy…

• Michael Jordan’s Secrets to Success
• 8 Ways to Avoid Unproductive Meetings
• 50 Simple Happiness Boosters
• 45 Quotes about Ideas
• 3 Reasons to Stop Thinking So Much

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TGIF: Links to Inspire

photo credit: Song_sing

A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
      –Thomas Mann

Two weeks ago, when I posted about the dash, I had intended to include the colon as well since the function of the two marks of punctuation can be related.  However, the lovely dash deserved its own post, so I delegated the colon to today.

The connection between the dash and the colon is thus:  while the dash tends to draw attention to what follows it, the colon tends to emphasize that which precedes it. 

More specifically, according to Lynne Truss, colons “introduce the part of a sentence that exemplifies, restates, elaborates, undermines, explains or balances the preceding part.”

In short, colons

• announce what’s to follow — My dog has two different colors: black and white.
• separates two oppositional statements — “Man proposes: God disposes” (G.B. Shaw)
• sets up a surprise — I have one rule in my life: to live like I am dying.

In addition, more commonly, colons

• set up long quotations — This theme is obvious is the following quote: “Say Yes…”
• separate titles and subtitles — Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
• separate characters from dialogue — Bob: Let’s go!       John:  I’m not ready yet

Any questions?

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Finally, the colon…

photo credit: Paul Keleher

Hopefully all are enjoying lovely fall weather…  Here’s a little inspiration!

• Tips for becoming patient
• 15 Terrific Tutorial Websites
• A surprising way to Get Things Done
• How to pay off your debts
• Why you should stop worrying

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TGIF: Links to Inspire

photo credit: martinalanotte

What a writer wants to do is not what he does — Jorge Borges

Well, I stand corrected…  After a comment on last week’s  post on the dash from Mrs. S asking “So when do I use a hyphen? Is that just for joining words together?“, I did a little research and realized the hyphen is much more important than I realized.  So, here’s an entire post just on the hyphen!  And a big thank you to Eats, Shoots & Leaves for verifying that the hyphen should not be ignored.

First, a linguistic lesson:  “Hyphen” means “under one” “into one” or “together”

The primary purpose of a hyphen is to join words, as mentioned last week, but also to aid in understanding.

So, here’s a rundown of how the hyphen links words and clarifies: 

• to join and thereby create numbers: forty-two
• to link nouns: the Houston-San Francisco route
• to create a noun phrase that qualifies another noun: stainless-steel knife
• prefixes: un-American
• hyphenated phrase:  four-year-old
• spelling out nouns: D-O-G
• avoid letter collision: de-ice or shell-like
• to indicate a word continues onto the next line
• to indicate stammering or hesitation

Any other functions I may have overlooked?

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9 Reasons the Hyphen Is Important

photo credit: Beard Papa

Recently I embarked on a new teaching journey and would love to share a great resource with my readers.

Tutor.com is a website designed to connect students with qualified tutors.  Students can either access the site from a library and receive 20 minutes of free instruction at a time (the library pays for the service) or students can pay for unlimited online help.

I stumbled upon the site a few months ago and thought it may be a nice way for me to use my degrees and skills during my leave.  In order to become a tutor, I first needed to take a couple of online tests regarding grammar and writing.  Once I passed these objective tests, I then took an essay test.  Once that was approved, I spent a week reading and studying the ins and outs of how the system worked before running a practice session with a Tutor.com mentor.  The last piece was a background check and one final exam on the website itself.  Then I was approved!

My first official session will take place on Tuesday afternoon — I signed up for two hours initially, although I was allowed to start with 10 hours.

Here’s a snapshot of how the sessions work:

A student logs in with a question.  If the tutor is able to help, then a chalkboard appears with a text message dialog at the top.  The student explains the dilemma and then the tutor guides the student to discover the answer on his/her own.  This is emphasized and monitored closely — the tutors are NOT to simply provide answers. 

Once the student seems to be getting the idea, the tutor ensures that the student truly understands the concept beyond the specific answer.  So far I have been very impressed by the process I needed to go through to become a tutor, as well as the emphasis on learning.

Feel free to ask me any questions!  I may wait until my Tuesday session has been completed to answer them, but so far I whole-heartedly recommend this website for interested tutors or struggling students!

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Tutor.com

photo credit: Hamed Saber

TGIF everyone!  Here are a few links to start our weekend off right…

• Helen Keller’s Guide to Courageous Living
• Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Guide to Productivity
• Keys to Unbridled Childlike Enthusiasm
• 6 Ways to Motivate Yourself at Work
• 10 Definitions of Happiness

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TGIF: Links to Inspire…

photo credit: apesara

Why do writers write? Because it isn’t there.  — Thomas Berger

Two weeks ago, we happily found that the semicolon is a simple, yet powerful mark of punctuation.  Well, the dash is even more powerful…  Originally I was going to post on both the dash and the colon, but then quickly realized the dash truly deserves its own week.  So, here’s to you, Emily (Dickinson)!

First, the difference between a dash and a hyphen — a poke of the keyboard!  A hyphen involves one poke of the keyboard and is used when composing hyphenated words.  A dash requires two pokes and is much more interesting and emphatic than the hyphen.

A dash is like a semicolon in function (joining two like ideas), but is less formal and therefore more impetuous.  While a semicolon requires two independent clauses, a dash does not.  In fact, it is nearly impossible to incorrectly use a dash (finally!) — unless you do not know why you are using it. 

Conventional wisdom believes a dash emphasizes what precedes it, but this really depends on context.  Notice the use of the dash in the first stanza of this poem by Dickinson, whose use of the dash to create rhythm, tempo and pace first taught me to love and respect this forceful mark:

My Life had stood — a Loaded Gun –
In Corners — till a Day
The Owner passed — identified –
And carried Me away –

Notice how she creates a halting, ponderous tone and tempo through the use of the dash — consequently, that last line just flies, released from the mid-line dash, until the end.  Lovely…

But, again, the beauty of the dash is that you do not need to be a poetic genius to use the dash…!  Simply enjoy it…!

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The Dash

photo credit: Guillermo Esteves

Well, after a one week hiatus from LitGuides — dedicated to jumping back into the classroom — I’m excited to share a bunch of resources that I think might come in handy…

First, a little background on my week.  After a much needed one year leave from teaching, I realized there were many, many things I enjoyed about my 15 years in the classroom.  Engaging with students, facilitating those “light bulb” moments of enlightenment, and even editing student writing (surprisingly) top the short list of things I wanted to re-incorporate into my life.  What I did not want to re-introduce was a crazy schedule, unhealthy amounts of stress, and the never-ending feeling that I wasn’t doing enough, giving enough, preparing enough, etc…

So, enter online teaching!  As of a week ago, I am now teaching an entry level writing course at Axia College and tutoring through Tutor.com.  I look forward to sharing my experience and passion for writing, without sacrificing the other wonderful areas of my life.  I’ll keep everyone updated!

Next Monday I’ll discuss Tutor.com, but for today here is a great list of resources in the meantime:

• (10 Tips to Effective Editing) http://www.uoregon.edu/~sschuman/tentips98.html
•  (Master Index! Clickable Index, find everything here!) http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
•  (Writing a good essay) http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/Courses/nes257/writingtips.html
•  (Research Tutorials) http://www.bedfordresearcher.com/tutorials.cfm
•  (Literature online) http://www.online-literature.com/
•  (Shakespeare online) http://www.shakespeare-online.com/

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Back in the (virtual) Classroom…