Friday, June 15, 2018

The Educator's Alphabet

It's summer!  This is the first summer in probably 10 years that I can say is actually relaxing so far.  I'm working, but it's a nice pace of work, and the type of work is different than what I typically do during the year. This gives my mind a chance to think and play a bit and notice things that I may overlook during more stressful times. This week I noticed one of those things-the Educator's Alphabet-the letters that make up our educator language.

I noticed it earlier this week when I was telling a friend about some PBL PD that I provide as a part of a STEM academy at SMU, and I realized how ridiculous the sentence sounded.  Did you understand it?  If you are an educator you did.  Look at all the capital letters!  It's crazy how many acronyms and initialisms we educators have in our field and use so nonchalantly.  We speak a different language.  So, for some summer fun, see if any of your non-educator friends can figure out these stories/sentences:


  1. I have an ELL in my class who is struggling according to MAPS. His DRA and TPRI are a little concerning, too.  I think we need to begin the RtI process and maybe start him on the LLI kits.   
  2. I have a student who is being tested to see if he would benefit from SPED services. If so, we’ll need to have an ARD meeting to develop an IEP.  
  3. At our PLC today, we will be looking at our YAG to determine upcoming TEKS.
  4. Do you teach a STAAR SSI grade?
  5. I've gotten some great 1:1 ideas from my PLN


I love to hear some that I’ve forgotten. I know there are too many to count!