The local news had a story on backpacks being too heavy for students nowadays. When I went to their website to reference the story I couldn’t find it, but I DID find that they had in fact covered it several times before: 8/17/04, 8/23/02, I can go on, but I won’t. In a society where we stress more and more learning we seem to be putting more than just emotional weight on our students’ shoulders, and apparently we’ve known about it for years. Think about…Continue Reading “Tooooo Heeeeavy!”
Now that Bud the Teacher has started using Moodle I feel I’m seriously missing a bandwagon here. I mean, there are other educators using it as well and singing plenty of praises. Alas, I don’t have access to any accounts at the moment that support Moodle or Word Press. Thingamablog is working well enough for me at the moment, but I’d like to have other options open in case I need them. So … anyone know how to get something like Moodle to work on…Continue Reading “Moodle? Denied!”
The 23rd podcast is here, there’s no use trying to stop it! In this show I don’t really wax philosophic too much … maybe next time. Show Notes:iTunes 4.9 Now has me listed in it’s podcast directory, although it lists them all out of order for some reason. (I still think iPodderX is a nicer podcatcher.) My school’s Technology Coordinator and I cleared out the old “Jostens Lab” to use for the Art Club. I’ve posted photos. There were some ancient computers that were beyond…Continue Reading “Podcast 23: iTunes and Art Club … AGAIN!”
22 won’t win you a game of blackjack, but hopefully you’ll enjoy the podcast. Show Notes:iTunes 4.9 is not just an mp3 player, it’s a podcatcher as well! I think the true geeks will keep using programs like iPodderX, but iTunes is a nice way to get podcasting to the masses. Art Club updates: we’ve got computers, we have space, we have supplies, things are looking up! You Are Here is a 12.5 meg quicktime music video by Sam Bisbee. His music’s nice, but the…Continue Reading “22nd Podcast: iTunes and Art Club”
21st podcast – Does this mean it’s “legal?” Show Notes:New background music. The nice thing about GarageBand is anyone can arrange music. The down side is that ANYONE can arrange music. I hope my efforts don’t disappoint. Please, for the sake of those subscribing to your Furl or del.icio.us feeds, include comments with your links. Thank you. A while back I complained about Ourmedia.org not working so well, but made sure to mention that they were in fact alpha testing their service so improvements were…Continue Reading “21st Podcast: Furl comments and Ourmedia.com”
19th podcast – one more and it’ll no longer be a teenager. Show Notes:Congratulations to Steve Dembo of teach42.com fame, he recently got hired as a kindergarten teacher for a charter school. Steve, does that mean you’ll change your podcast description to “musings of a kindergarten teacher?” iKnowThat.com – I’ve only just barely scratched the surface of this site, and I already like it. They have plenty of “games,” but they all have an educational nature too them. Registration is free and VERY fast, activities…Continue Reading “19th Podcast”
18th podcast … does that mean it can vote? … most likely not. Show Notes:School ends on Friday! So, how many educators will continue to blog/podcast over the summer? Making Stuff – A great blog that documents one woman making all kinds of cool crafts. Reading her stuff really inspires me. Artboy – This site has all kinds of content, but I mention it because of it’s podcast: Strange Angels. Think of it as the internet version of NPR’s Art & Culture segments. Education Podcast…Continue Reading “18th Podcast: Making Stuff and Strange Angels”
Can you believe this is my 17th podcast? … yeah, so can I. Show Notes:Of course the best way to be secure online is to buy a Mac, but that’s not an option for everyone so I’ve compiled some tips to help out those of us still using Windows. By the way, if you’re already a Technology Coordinator or fan of Leo Laporte‘s you can probably just skip over this. The whole podcast is really for the less technical members of my listener base. Explorer…Continue Reading “17th Podcast: 5 Security Tips”
Sweet 16, Boo-YA! Show Notes:Like the background music? It’s mine. In this podcast I also respond to comments by Flint and Deb. I have several podcast directories to reccomend: Education Podcast Network – Another wonderful education resource by David Warlick. Podcast Park – Family friendly podcasts, although there aren’t many listed. iPodder.org Education Category – The original podcast directory Podcast Alley Education Category – Podcasts ranked by the votes from their listeners. And I wrapped things up by plugging these podcasts: Tips from the Top…Continue Reading “16th Podcast: Comments and Podcast Sites”
I recently revisited Ender’s Game, a very decent sci-fi story, if somewhat unbelievable when it comes to child psychology. I’d already read the book once, but that was back before I was a teacher. Back then, it just struck me as an enthralling story with plenty of plot twists. (I was once told that the art of writing a good story involves creating a character you like and then visiting hardships upon that character. Ender’s Game does just that.) But now I’ve been teaching for…Continue Reading “Ender’s Game and Education”