Tech Tips & Timely Tidbits

Odds & Ends is back! I took a little time off and my RSS Reader is slam full of articles for me to read. I’m slowly getting through them. I’m not ready to declare RSS bankruptcy as I would hate to miss something good! Anyhoo, here are some nuggets of information, technology, or news I’ve found so far…

Pat Hensley over at the Successful Teaching Blog posted “Just Doing What’s Right” that brought me to tears over the compassion of those teens! Boy, I’m sure getting emotional in my old age. Be sure to read the comments and follow the link to another example of kids doing what’s right! Now if news reports had more of these types of stories to share, I might just watch the news again!

Edutopia: “Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner” by Mark Prensky

A little math humor “I Will Derive” video from College Humor brought to my attention by FrancyLibrarian at the Gargoyles Loose in the Library blog. Too funny!

CNN.com: “School defends drunken driving hoax” - Okay, I find this disturbing. I can see where the authorities were coming from to want to “scare kids straight,” but I think this went overboard. This probably did more damage to the kids than deterred teens from driving drunk.

And lastly, a few news articles I found interesting from BBC.com:

• “Spain treats child phone addicts” - Guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, but I figured it would start with computer games before phones! My question, what do 12 & 13 year olds need with cell phones? Shouldn’t the parents have been monitoring their usage BEFORE things got so out of hand?
• “‘Non-planet’ Pluto gets new class” - “Sorry, Pluto, you’ve been demoted, but to sooth your feelings, we’re going to call all masses like you “plutoids,” what do you think?” Come on, couldn’t they come up with a better name than that?
• “The changing face of Africa” - visual proof that man is destroying the planet faster than nature ever could.
• “Sudoku-playing jurors halt trial” - What! How could the jurors be so rude! This is life and future you’re going to be deciding! I realize lawyers tend to love the sound of their own voice, and you may have been a bit bored, but please, show some respect!

Okay, I missed posting an Odds & Ends list last week, so to make up for it, I’m a day early this week! It’s been a busy few weeks and will only be getting busier. The Mayan Movie projects were officially due this past Tuesday. Some are still finalizing their projects. I can’t wait to begin grading them with Ms. Andrews! Now begins English II research papers. Also, as one of the two drama sponsors, Mrs. Shaffer handles lunch rehearsals & character development/interaction and I handle after-school rehearsals & blocking and set design. We’re in full swing preparing for our one-act competition on May 3^rd. Too little time and still so much to do!

On a personal note, my mother had surgery this past Tuesday to repair a torn tendon in her foot. Thankfully, everything was a success, but it’s been hard for my stepfather and I to keep her confined to bed for the requisite couple of days. She’s someone who has to always be busy and its hard for her to be out of commission. I stayed home this morning until my stepfather (an independent truck driver) finished his run around 10:30. I picked up some books on tape for her yesterday, and even (gasp!) left her my Macbook today to keep her busy since I was only going to be at work for a few hours. She is also working on crocheting an afghan for me since she finished the baby blanket she was making yesterday. Hopefully, this is enough to keep her busy.

Anyway, here are some articles and web tools I’ve discovered recently and found interesting:

Adobe Photoshop Express Beta: “Crop, rotate, tweak, twirl, and show off your photos here on Photoshop Express…” The site also allows you to store 2GB of photos for FREE! I haven’t had a chance to really check this out yet, and I was unable to create an account using a school computer. Don’t know if that is because my school computer needs a plug-in, or it it’s a problem with the Adobe site. I will try to access from home computer and leave a comment on this blog post. However, I wanted to share with my teachers who’ve been asking for Photoshop, and getting turned down due to the cost.

GoGooligans.com: “Educational Search Engine for KIDS…Simple, fast loading, kid oriented, filtered results!!!” While maybe a bit too young for my high school students, I know many of you work with younger students and/or have young ones at home and you may find this one useful.

CNN.com: “Who gets rich off $3 gas – who doesn’t…”: Interesting article that illuminates where the money we spend at the pump goes and/or why we’re paying so much for gas these days? Or does it? I’d still like to know why oil companies are making HUGE profits and yet we seem to be the ones forking over more money — we’re losing and they are still turning a profit at our expense?

BBC News: “Brain game school trial”: Scottish primary schools use handheld video games to improve students’ math sklls.

And speaking of technology & learning, how about this one:

USA Today: “Cellphone college class opens in Japan”: How in the world could anyone “read” PowerPoint on their CELLPHONE!? I guess it’s no different than watching video on an iPod, but still. Would you want to take a class ON your cellphone? Is my age showing on this?

Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll have more next week and then I’ll be off for Spring Break! W00T! I make no guarantees that I’ll have a post that week!