How to Understand Eduspeak

Like any profession, education has developed a long list of terms and phrases that uniquely describe what teachers do and how they do it.  This collection of educational jargon is loosely referred to as “Eduspeak” and understanding it can be very difficult for the public at large.  Below I have listed some websites that purport to offer glossaries of "Eduspeak" terms to assist the public.   Educators deal with the public and specifically parents.  They need to remember that their language, like that of a lawyer or doctor, isn't always clear to outsiders.  Glossaries like these can be beneficial for education professionals as well as the general public. (Please note that these glossaries have been compiled from a parent/tax payer’s perspective) From School Wise Press in California: http://www.schoolwisepress.com/smart/dict/dict.html Texas Education Consumers Association:  http://www.nychold.com/hirsch-termin.html IllinoisLoop.org has a list of additional resources that can help parents "learn the lingo" of education: http://www.illinoisloop.org/lingo.html The practical teachers in the Bering Strait School District in Alaska offer this Eduspeak  Jargon Generator on their wiki to help in the preparation of "reports, grant applications, program evaluations and other required documents." And in case you were wondering, education is not the only field that you can find "jargon generators" for.  Try out some of these: For Library Computer Networks: http://www.unc.edu/~macmw/jargon.html Buzz Word Generators: http://www.robietherobot.com/buzzword.htm http://www.1728.com/buzzword.htm A Custom Slogan Generators: http://thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi?word=School http://www.sloganizer.net/en/ And for politicians, make your own campaign signs here: http://www.frantic.org/makesign.html

PRACTICE ACTIVITY:  Try one of the online jargon generators listed above.  Could you find a practical application for any of these? TO KEEP ON LEARNING:  To learn more try searching the internet for: Jargon Generators Free Online Generators Office Jargon