Archive for December, 2007

Awesome Final Projects in Tech & Civ

Posted: December 29, 2007 in highschool

My Technology & Civilization students studied Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. One student in particular really wowed me on his final exam. Here is his final exam project: The school wikispace holds the complete Tech & Civ final assignment along with the rest of the class’ work. This was the first time I’ve [...]

End of Semester Rituals?

Posted: December 22, 2007 in teaching

How do you end the semester at school? Me? I take the chance to really clean up. My room collects dust like you wouldn’t believe, so the dust monsters are the first thing I attack. My routine includes the following: Thoroughly clean the computers. Open the cases and remove dust, shake out keyboards, wipe down [...]

Our New Fish: fish 2.0 (Beta)

Posted: December 17, 2007 in school

My classroom is home to a aquarium made from a converted monitor. After several months of fish-lessness, we finally received a new pet fish. His (her?) name is fish 2.0 and is (of course!) a beta fish. You can’t see him (her?) in the tank, probably because he’s been swimming around trying to get to [...]

It’s official — I’m a graduate student seeking a Masters of Arts in Teaching Secondary Mathematics. This week, I registered at Georgia State for the Spring semester and plotted the next 15-odd months of my education. My courses: EPSF7120, The Psychology of Learning and Learners MATH6371, Modern Geometry MATH6441, Modern Algebra My goal, since starting [...]

My Whole New Mind

Posted: December 11, 2007 in highschool

I’ve gotten the green light to teach A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink next semester. This is so exciting! How’s this thing going to work? Well, it’ll be a high school class taught out of the Technology (=Computing) department. Students will receive credit for a computer elective with this course. The class is one [...]

Jott Rocks: Google Calendar Link

Posted: December 7, 2007 in web2.0

A new feature in one of my favorite web tools has me really excited: with Jott, I can now add events directly to my Google Calendar. The feature is one of several Jott Links the company offers — which are connections to other web services, including Twitter and Blogger. What’s Jott? Jott is a transcription [...]

MAKE: Magazine’s store offers a Designing Automata Kit for $59.95. The kit comes with “everything you see here!” (at right). Auto-what? Automata (n): The plural of automaton, self-operating machines or mechanisms. The kits include shaped and drilled wood pieces that are fit together with dowels. No glue or tools required. The automata you build here [...]