ASCII Code ♥ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♥

A friend asked how I make the little music notes in my writing.  So here's the trick:

To make music notes: you need to have a full sized keyboard with the 10-key on the right side. First hold down the ALT key (just to the left or right of your space bar). While holding that down, hit 1 & then 3 on the 10-key pad. That makes ♪. To make the 1/16th  notes do ALT & 1 4  ♫.

To make a heart do ALT & 3.   ♥

Try other combinations! This is called the ASCII (pronounced asky) code.

Best Moments in Teaching

I heard my favorite words from students again yesterday. 

I was teaching basic Facebook and was giving an example of how to wish a friend Happy Birthday.  I always like to add a few well-placed music notes as if I’m singing (believe me, you don’t want to actually hear me sing!). 

As the students watched me key in the notes, they all asked, “How’d you do that?”  So we had a quick lesson on ASCII code and what it could do.  After showing them how to make notes, a heart, a cent sign, and more, a couple of them said, “Wow! That by itself is worth the price of admission!”  The others all agreed and I momentarily basked in the warm glow of admiration…..then it was back to reality…

Funny, that was the exact same thing some students in a basic word processing class said last year when I taught them how to make a new folder on their desktop…I love teaching; sure wish I’d started it long ago!