Buzy - zzzzzZZZZZZzzzzz

Why am I so busy? None of my classes are new this year. (Yes I am trying new things but the content and curriculum stays similar.) I have more preps than I did last year - (No preps at all first term last year). I even have one period set aside for tech. Why am I always so rushed?

At home time spent with my son is SPENT with my son. It is actually about the calmest part of my day because I try not to let other distractions creep in. It's all playtime! At home I have even cut wwwwaaaaayyyy back on the amount of TV I watch. I only really watch TV now while working on something else. I don't do any gaming any more either (no X-box, no Wii, no Playstation, and no gaming capeable laptop). Ok I tried to sneak back into World of Warcraft but I very, very quickly got bored.

So where does my time go? More importantly - am I more productive? I don't think so. Definately not at school. At home? Ya probably. Despite what my wife thinks I am getting projects done at home - at the cost of sleep. Maybe that is why I feel so busy. In fact maybe I should go to sleep instead of writing any more blog posts.

P.S. I have to thank the decision making part of the Technology Department for streamlining procedures and making them simpler - especially with respect to logins.

Oh Yeah - thanks to Daniel Morris for the Creative Commons picture.

The Poor Man's IWB in Action

Another update on the tool that jealosy built. I am using it daily and loving it. I used to use a chalkboard all of the time. (I tend to think best with a writing/drawing instrument in my hand). Now I am only on my second peice of chalk. I am constantly changing pen colors (especially in math). In fact I use it exclusively for my math notes. I am getting better and better at writing legibly.

Today one of my previous math students came looking for some his past reviews (which I am not sure I still had). I remembered that I had tested out my IWB on that subject last year with them - luckily I had saved the notes. A quick hit of the print button and he had a set of review notes.

I have not yet figured out how to fix the audio on my recordings (but I have not had a lot of time to monkey with it).

Good news however - I found a new program for running the IWB. I still use the genuine notebook software but this new program has a lot more functionality than the original software by Johnny Chung Lee. It builds on what he wrote and adds lots more. It also includes some WiiMote presenter software (that uses a second WiiMote as a remote handheld mouse and presenter remote). There's more!! I can now RIGHT CLICK!! The new program uses the space outside of the screen to add clickable hotkeys (one of them being a right click). The improved program also has some cursor smoothing as well. The smoothing helps my writing. Were was smoothing back in the primary grades?

Anyways, I was right about one thing. Putting together my poor man's IWB means that I will probably never get a real one. Looks like our school is getting two SmartBoards. Neither is going into my classroom. Rats. Still jealous.........

A Job Application to Remember

My cousin pointed this guy out to me. He is apparently from Saskatoon and has a wonderful sense of humor. His video Garson Hampfield, Crossword Inker is also a work of genius.

Too bad he did not get the job.

Solving Systems of Linear Equations by Elimination

Here is one of the things I have been working on for the upcoming year. Using my Poor Man's Interactive White Board I want to record the examples I do in the classroom (and other examples when I will be away). The plan is to record it using the SmartBoard software and to include audio with my example. I think that examples are much more powerful when you see and hear how the question is done. Reading a written example can get quite confusing. This is one of my solutions to having to do the same example 3 or 4 times for students who are either ahead, behind, or absent.

This video (a third attempt) is my first example. Unfortunatly the audio came out quite poorly. I can't understand what I was saying - and I said it! I am using a Motorola H500 Bluetooth headset (one of those little ear clip deals). I will continue to monkey with the settings but if anybody has any tips as to how to tweak the audio let me know.

An Omen.........

With a week and a half left to go last June my son lost my work keys. No matter how much I looked I could not find them - until today. I guess that someone or something is trying to tell me it is time to go back to work. Damn - summer holidays were just getting comfortable.

End of the Year Teaching - Another Fun Parody

Pcone and P. Fjeldstrom both have been having some fun with Monty Python teaching parody videos. I figured I should add in my impressions of end of the year teaching. Pay close attention to the monks.

Video Games and Sex

Thankyou Alec Couros for pointing me to this video.


It is a great little video talking about how sex is used in the video game industry. I goes beyond complaining about it. It talks about appropriate ways to include it. A video like this is almost enough to make we wish that I taught some sort of social studes class...almost.