michellereno[dot]com

Don’t look at the past and consume yourself with what went wrong; look toward the future to focus on what you can do right.

I just today got student feedback regarding the English classes I teach at Truckee Meadows Community College. I loved their handwritten comments so much that I wanted to share them here.

> I enjoyed Mrs. Montoya’s class. I was really nervous when first taking this class. She made it easy, interesting, and fun. I learned a lot and feel more confident in going into English 101.

> Best English teacher ever.

> Mrs. Montoya has helped a lot with my grammar and my organizational skills when it comes to writing.

> I am enjoying this class very much. Michelle is a great instructor. She explains what she expects from each of us. I will recommend her class very highly!

> Honestly, you are one of the best teachers I have ever had. You should really reconsider teaching English 101, I would take your class in a heart beat.

> Michelle is one of the best teachers I have ever had. She makes class interesting and makes me want to come everyday. Thank you Michelle for being such a great teacher.

> I think Michelle is a great English teacher and also a good person. I have learned a lot about writing and I feel more comfortable than I have ever felt about writing essays. She uses a great method of teaching and is effective at the same time.

> Michelle is very cool, she is a great teacher.

> Michelle is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had, she helps a lot and pushes you to be a better student. I am so thankful I have her.

> This is by far my favorite class, and favorite teacher. I really enjoy her teaching methods and how she is herself in class. She acts like one of us students more than an instructor but we still get work done. I may have to fail this course just so I can have Michelle for a teacher again!

> You are an excellent teacher!

> Mrs. Montoya is a wonderful teacher. She is passionate about what she does and that makes me want to do better as a student. She has great energy which feeds off to her class.

> Michelle Montoya is a very knowledgeable English instructor that makes English become more interesting for me, I would highly recommend her to anyone.

> Less homework would be helpful for the students to keep up, more quizzes and a lot less homework would keep students from doing poorly.

> I love how if you need anything at all from Ms. Montoya, she is glad to work with you to get things done. And she is understanding, and easy to get a hold of.

> Try and come up with more relatable essay topics.

> Mrs. Montoya is a wonderful teacher. She taught me new things. When I needed help she was more than happy to help, she worked with all the students. She made my English class fun.

> I thought that this course was all good.

Please ignore the several comma splices, run-on sentences, incorrect pronoun references, misspelled words, etc. At least my students have big hearts!

On NPR’s Fresh Air segment Friday morning, linguist Geoff Nunberg discussed his belief in the usefulness of the passive voice. During my college years, I spent the majority studying Strunk and White’s definite writing guide, “Elements of Style,” in which they condemn the use of the passive voice.

The rules on using the active versus the passive voice depend on what or who is more important. If the person doing the action (the subject) is more important, then the active voice is preferred. If, however, the thing being acted upon (the direct object) is more important than the person/people doing the acting, then the passive voice is acceptable.

Check out these examples:

• Mary ate the pie. (In this sentence, the person, Mary, is more important than the direct object, the pie.)
• Pi is considered to be an important mathematical constant. (In this case, pi, which could be considered the direct object, is far more important than the people who consider it to be so.)

In addition to being against the passive voice, Strunk and White’s sixteenth and seventeenth elements of styles rules relate to my most recent post on being clear and concise in writing. I can only imagine that in 1949, Strunk and White somewhat plagiarized Orwell’s work, which had been published in 1946.

With so many famous plagiarists around today, I guess it comes as no surprise that it happened 50 years ago. And with the internet making others’ words so readily accessible to others, I can’t imagine plagiarism going away any time soon.

Do you think plagiarism will ever become acceptable in terms of people not scoffing when it happens? Will teachers ever stop checking for plagiarism? If your words were to be plagiarized, would you ever be okay with it?

I subscribe to an email list that sends me a few quotes every day. They don’t have a particular emphasis, but it seems that at least one quote every day has something to do with what I am passionate about or interested in. I usually include these quotes to my Twitter profile, but the quote I wanted to use today was much too large and far exceeded the ubiquitous 140-character limit imposed by Twitter.

“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.” -George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language“, 1946

One of my five part-time jobs involves preparing high school kids for their college entrance exams and another is teaching English at the community college. In both settings, I preach the need to be clear and concise, both when writing and when identifying errors. It has become so embedded in my daily routine that I often find myself being clear and concise in daily interactions with others, from co-workers to, especially and unfortunately, my husband. The latter is not too fond of this; I assure you.

So the great takeaway here is to not pad your writing with superfluous language that is meant to trap or intimidate your readers from your clear message.

If you can’t say something clearly and concisely, then maybe you shouldn’t say anything at all.

I recently (as in three hours ago) presented at Reno-Tahoe WordCamp on how to use WordPress as a training tool. When I realized I was presenting during the first session, I decided to incorporate a bit of WordPress 101 into my presentation as well.

So here you have it: my presentation on how to use WP as a training tool.

Please feel free to leave comments below and let me know what you use or if you have any questions.

I would like to think of myself as an environmentally-conscious person. Raised by a hippie, I have always recycled and have been taught to respect our planet. For the last 20 years, I have attended Nevada EcoNet’s Earth Celebration, no matter the conditions. Now that I am a mother, I am teaching my children what my mom taught me - and then some.

I used to work as a copywriter at an internet marketing firm. One of our clients sold baby products, and I used to write articles to be featured on blogs and similar sites. In honor of Earth Day, I would like to revisit a blog post I wrote almost a year and a half ago. Check out “How to Become a Green Parent: Ten Easy Ideas” and let me know what you think in the comments here.

If you would rather see the abbreviated list, here you go:

1. Make your own baby food
2. Use cloth diapers
3. Buy organic when you can
4. Swap kids’ items with other moms
5. Walk or take public transportation
6. Have fun recycling paper, plastic, and aluminum
7. Use canvas bags for your groceries
8. Plant trees, flowers, gardens
9. Start a compost pile
10. Conserve water and energy

Do you have any suggestions that I could add to my list? Has anything changed in the last 17 months?

Anyone who knows me can tell you how superstitious I am. (If you want to see for yourself, you can check out this tweet and this tweet.) I always throw any spilled salt over my left shoulder in order to blind the devil, and I’ve never stepped on a crack for fear of breaking my momma’s back. I’ve never broken a mirror and just knocked on wood in hopes that it won’t ever happen. In just four sentences, I’ve already talked about six superstitions that I live my life by; therefore, I thought it’d be interesting to research some other common - and some not-so-common - superstitions.

• Friday the Thirteenth - It’s no coincidence that I’m writing this post on Friday, March 13. I suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia, which is the fear of Friday the 13th. In fact, I’m usually just afraid of the number 13 (yes, I’m also a triskaidekaphobic as well). I’m hoping that by paying it homage, it will leave me alone.
• Walking Under a Ladder - This superstition comes from the belief that a ladder, because of its three points, symbolizes the Holy Trinity and that walking through it shows your disbelief in Christianity and makes the walker-througher in cohorts with Satan.
• Breaking a Mirror - In ancient times, the mirror was considered a window to the viewer’s soul. If the mirror breaks, it takes seven years for the viewer’s soul to heal (which is where the phrase, “time heals all wounds” comes from).
• Black Cat Crossing Your Path - Because black cats are traditionally associated with evil and witchcraft, it is considered bad luck if a black cat walks in front of you. To reverse the curse, walk in a circle, go backward across the spot where it happened, and count to 13 - all while chanting a line from the Bible.
• Opening an Umbrella Indoors - This superstition manifested in ancient Egypt where rain was a precious commodity and umbrellas were used to protect against the sun’s rays. To open one indoors was insulting to the local sun god and invited his wrath on everyone in the household.
• Having a Two-Dollar Bill - Many believe that the two-dollar bill brings bad luck (which is why they aren’t circulated that much). To undo the curse of having a two-dollar bill, one of the bill’s corners must be torn off. If you receive a bill with no corners left, you have to tear up the entire bill.
• Seeing a Single Magpie - If you see one magpie, it is said to be bad luck because of old rhyme (”One for sorrow, two for joy”). An old English folk tale states that when Jesus was crucified on the cross, all of the world’s birds wept and sang to comfort him in his agony. The only exception was the magpie, and for this, it is forever cursed.

If you have done any of the above and want a way to bring some good luck, try some of these:

• Hang a Horseshoe Over a Door - Place a used horse shoe upright (like a U) at the top right corner of your front doorframe to invite good luck into your home. If you place a used horse shoe in a north facing position inside a building, it will also bring good fortune.
• Rub a Rabbit’s Foot - Because rabbits are prolific breeders, they’re seen as symbols of fertility and are thought to provide good luck, good crops, many children, and prosperity. Keep one in your left pocket and rub it for luck.
• Keep a Four-Leaf Clover - A four-leaf clover is considered to bring good luck to its finder (especially if it is found accidentally) because it is an uncommon variety of the common three-leaved clover. According to legend, Eve is said to have carried a four leaf clover from the Garden of Eden, which could also be why it’s considered good luck.
• Pick Up a Penny - An old Mother Goose rhyme says, “See a pin and pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck.” This has since been translated to include a penny. Some say heads up is good luck and tales up is bad, so use your best judgment.
• Break a Wishbone - If you still have your Thanksgiving turkey wishbone in your kitchen window (like my mother does), fine someone and break in two. Whoever has the larger piece gets the good luck.
• Knock on Wood - Any time you speak of bad luck, you should always knock on wood. Even when you’re talking about good luck, you should knock on wood to continue having good luck. This superstition stems from old Celtic traditions related to belief of wood spirits.
• Wear Your Clothes Inside Out - If you don’t have access to any of the above, one thing anyone can do is to put clothes on inside out. I couldn’t find any reason behind why this works, but try it on for size and let me know.

So there you have it. I have seven superstitions that bring bad luck and seven things to do to bring good luck. In case you didn’t figure it out yet, seven is my lucky number. I’m serious about this, folks; I don’t play with superstitions.

In January 2008, I was listed as one of the *original* internet marketing gurus on Twitter. In the last 14 months, I have gained 675 followers on my Twitter profile. In the same amount of time, I have changed the focus of my career from strictly being a copywriter for an internet marketing company to having dual careers in technology and education. I have been able to bring my interest for technology into the classroom and was lucky enough to present at Nevada Interactive Media’s 2009 summit.

Below was going to be a mosaic of most of the people who follow me on Twitter, but it kept breaking my site. If you want your own mosaic, try making your own here. (And if you figure out why mine didn’t work, please let me know in the comments below.)

So, thank you all for driving me to be a better tweeter. I’ll be here for at least another 14 months. Try the fish and be sure to tip your servers.

Here is the link to my presentation from yesterday’s Nevada Interactive Media Summit. Thank you to those who attended. Although not on the slide deck, we also looked at Horizon 2008 and George Lucas’ Edutopia sites.

If you have anything you’d like to add that could be helpful for educators to use in their classrooms, please feel free to share in the comments below.

When @NevadaInteract asked me to submit a proposal for the Nevada Interact Summit, I was both flattered and terrified. I have never considered myself an expert at anything, yet here I am being asked to present on using interactive media in the classroom.

The deadline to submit proposals for the conference was today, and I just turned it in. My procrastination is mostly due to anxiousness and nervousness. The summit will take place on Saturday, March 7 from 10am-5pm and will be held at the Reynolds’ School of Journalism on the University of Nevada campus.

I don’t know how long it will take until I hear back, but at least two people will review it before telling me it has been accepted, rejected, or needs to be revised. Once I know, you will know.

Until then, keep your fingers crossed…