May 5, 2008
Posted 6 days, 17 hours ago on May 5, 2008 by titanium
5 things a teacher should have, but perhaps haven't thought of yet.
- A red pen. I didn't think I'd need one- but kids can be sneaky little- well, kids. A red pen says Authority, Permanent and Pizazz.
- A kitchen timer. Boring, but necessary tasks (like typing practice) can have kids moping around, not trying hard as they feel that they will be doing that task for the rest of the lesson. (This is frustrating.) Give them 5 minutes, 10 minutes (etc) and have them stop when the buzzer goes! They will work much more diligently if they know the time to do it is finite. It also works for kids who misbehave- have them sit out for a few minutes (till the ding sounds.) You can move on to other kids without forgetting the trouble-maker! Punishment also is more effective when it's finite.
- Beanbags! I've posted about these at length before- but in short, they help the kids get their wriggles out, calm down and build their motor skills. One each is enough, two is even more fun, and three is great for teaching juggling.
- Whiteboard markers/chalk. You may have your own classroom, that's great. I teach in the computer lab, and there are lots of different classes and teachers that also use my space. I would write something on the board, only to be told "Miss, I can't see it." The ink was running out and not writing well. So, I got the four colours of whiteboard marker from the resource drawer, and keep them put away when I'm not there. Now I know that if I need to write on the board, it will work well.
- Spares of everything. You never know when a kid will forget their pencils, or lose a worksheet. Spares to lend to them (get them back at the end of the lesson) help the lesson flow without major interuptions.
These are the tools that I have found help a lot when it comes to surviving the classroom. How about you? What tools make your job so much easier? Teachers- have I got it wrong? What are your favourite teaching tools? As always, leave a comment to let us know what you think.
Education • 2 Comments
April 19, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 1 day ago on April 19, 2008 by titanium
At the moment I get to teach computer science class (known as "computers") to elementary/primary grades 1-6. Since I have no formal teaching training, it's a bit like being thrown in the deep end of the swimming pool. I'm having a lot of fun, and learning lots. My favourite "tool of the trade" right now are bean bags. While the large size bean bags are lots of fun to sit in, what I'm talking about the small size bean bags that you hold in your hand.
These bean bags are fantastic.
- They don't roll (imagine 15 eight year olds throwing, dropping and running after balls)
- easy to catch (they fit to your hand and don't bounce out)
- hand sized
- easy to throw (they are nicely weighted)
I take the kids out to a nice shady spot on the field, (away from trees and roofs) and say: Are you paying attention? I then throw each kid a beanbag. (Softly! as they usually aren't paying attention...) They catch on that they need to be paying attention and catch their bean bag. The first "trick" that is really key to keeping control is what I call the beanbag on head method.
How it Works
As the picture to the right demonstrates, you need to put the bean bag on your head, and ask your kids to do the same. (Everyone doing what I'm doing!) I usually put my finger to my lips and "shh". This works because it gets the bean bags out of their hands, removing the temptation to throw, fiddle with or drop the bean bags, and when they are concentrating on catching the bean bag they don't listen very well. While the beanbags flop nicely on your head and won't slide off easily, the kids get the idea that they need to stand still to balance them- a bonus! It also works because you are willing to look silly, and in entertaining them, you gain their attention. Now you can give them instructions.
Depending on age level and ability, you could start with just throwing and catching. The next step is to throw the bean bag into the air, clap, and catch the bean bag. How many times can they clap before they catch the bean bag? Catching is really important- inevitably you will get kids launching their bags way up in the air and dropping them (remember the bit about away from trees and roofs? I learnt this the hard way. I rescued the bean bag after class, and gave the kid another bean bag to use- spares are wonderful things to have!) When the kids aren't catching the bean bags any more, it's time to move on to something else.
Elbow catch- this looks pretty cool and tricky, but is surprisingly easy. You need to balance the bean bag on your elbow and catch it with the same arm's hand. (Different/both hands makes it easier for the smaller kids.) The trick is to use your knees- bend them and stand up straight suddenly to propel the beanbag up, giving you enough time to whip your hand around and catch the beanbag. This "trick" is cool, because it is quite easy to master. Seeing the kid's faces when they catch it on the first or second try is a real buzz! Of course, this has limited replay capacity- especially with those smart alec kids. "Miss! A baby could do this!"
Variety is the spice of life
The elbow catch can be expanded with more bean bags- two on one arm, one on each arm, etc. As well as adding bean bags, adding people provides a new twist. They can throw their bean bags to a partner, both bean bags at the same time, throw using their elbows, throw multiple bean bags, etc. Remember the all important catching, otherwise some kids tend to get carried away. Try getting them to take a step back if they succeed, perhaps setting up a water balloon toss kind of competition. (here or the first bits of this video).
Juggling
Remember how bean bags are easy to throw and easy to catch? They work really well to teach juggling, my favourite "cool skill" that I always wanted to learn as a kid. Juggling is a bit more complicated to explain, so I'll stick with just one beanbag. (Special thanks to the folks at the Monash Club of Jugglers and Fire-twirlers (and other circus stuff) for teaching me how to practice juggling.) Start with one bean bag in one hand. Toss it in a nice arc in front of your eyes to your other hand. Don't do a quick pass from hand to hand- arc it gently to the other hand. Practice this till you can do it without dropping it every time. If you have enough bean bags to give each kid three, and older kids with good hand-eye coordination and attention spans, then juggling is really fun to teach. This blog post is already too long, so I'll save the rest for another time.
Packing up: you could have the kids throw the bean bags into your carry-bag. Make it a strong one though, as the force in a thrown bean bag can rip a plastic shopping bag. Or just get them to put them nicely in the bag.
I haven't answered the question "Why?" yet. I have been asked: "But how does this relate to computers?" The real reason is to get the kid's wiggles out so they can focus while they are on the computer. But, especially at the primary/elementary level, what you are teaching is: to improve their muscle motor skills. They need motor skills so they can move the mouse exactly where they want it, and have nimble fingers for typing. They need to disassociate their hands from their eyes so they understand the concept of touch-typing and master it. Tossing around a bean bag for 5-10 minutes is lots of fun, and is building their muscle motor skills without them even knowing it's teaching them! Plus it really helps them calm down and focus on the task at hand, which is what every teacher wants.
What about you? Are there more beanbag/tossing games that work well with a group of kids? (I'm running out of ideas!) Have you got a cool "teacher trick" like this to share? Drop a comment in the box and let us know!
Education • 4 Comments
April 17, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 3 days ago on April 17, 2008 by titanium
As you might have noticed, I've added a little box (called a widget) to the right side of my website, just bellow the calendar. (Click through, RSS readers) This is Skribit.
What's it for? Well, it's so bloggers have a way to beat writer's block, and so readers have an easy way to let the blogger know what they want to read about. They can do this by making new suggestions or by voting for existing suggestions.
Where's it from? Skribit was created as part of a "Startup Weekend", a 54 hour event that gets together a group of people, they come up with an idea for a product (a web based one) and try and launch it. I found out about it via a blog I read- PaulStamatiou.com was one of the participants.
What I expect? I hope this tool will encourage people who read my site to suggest stuff they want me to post about. I tried this sort of idea before, but it was hidden on another page of my blog. Now, with it on the front page, maybe people will be able to interact more. Maybe even other people will adopt skribit on their blogs- that would be cool.
Blog Hacks and Etiquette · Tech • 0 Comments
April 16, 2008
Posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago on April 16, 2008 by titanium
The state of TV being terrible during the off-ratings summer season, is cured by some nice new DVD's in the Christmas stocking.
But this brings me to my gripe: There are these nice grooved out bits in the DVD case so you can pick up the DVD easily. But these are filled in on the DVD case I got for Christmas. Shocking.
A short gripe draft rescued from the archives.
Randomness · Tech • 0 Comments
April 9, 2008
Posted 1 month, 4 days ago on April 9, 2008 by titanium
I've wanted to get a twitter bar (see just under my site heading/title, rss readers can click through) for a while now, and finally tweaked it to where I'm happy with it- for now. (After wading through scads of CSS code, I settled on a table, boo hiss and all of that.)
Of course, if you notice anything out of the ordinary, borked or not working, please let me know, comments always welcome.
Ooh cool, my 400th post. Yay!
Blog Hacks and Etiquette · Site Stuff · Tech • 0 Comments
March 31, 2008
Posted 1 month, 6 days ago on March 31, 2008 by titanium
The Google people have decided to bestow the population with super powers. While I hear that x-ray vision, echolocation and plain-old flight were on the drawing board, they have opted for invisibility.
![[ the google chat invisible status ]](chat.jpg)
This new feature can be harnessed using google chat, the messaging program used in Gmail. What it does is allow you to be online while appearing that you are not to others. (offline.)
I find this feature handy as I currently live in a different timezone to the majority of my gchat friends. It can be awkward to get a message from someone when you have to do other things. Sometimes I just want to check my email, especially when I'm pressed for time. Previously, I would just sign out of chat, but the disadvantage of this is that I might miss someone I really want to talk to, when I'm sitting right there at the computer. (This is silly.) With the invisible mode, I can feel more in control of my IM.
Of course, super powers and super heroes face problems because of their abilities, and this is no different with gchat invisibility.
It seems a little selfish (and a little stalkerish) to see everyone who is online without them seeing you. Perhaps people might have a feeling of "Don't you want to talk to me?" if they know that people may be invisible. Invisibility effectively wrenches the ability to start conversations away from others, because if they think you are offline, they won't try and talk to you. There is also the rhetorical question: "What if everyone is invisible?"
Just like chocolate can be bad in excess, so might be this new-found superpower. I'm going to make sure my gchat status properly reflects my availability, and try to not be always "invisible".
While "invisible" sounds way cooler than msn's "appear offline", it is only available to some gmail users, as google rolls out features slowly, not to everyone at once.
Blog Hacks and Etiquette · Tech • 0 Comments
![[a battery indicator with green juice half way along it.]](halfBattery.jpg)
You know the feeling- you're grooving away to your favourite tunes, and happen to notice that your little juice-meter is awfully low. What to do? You decide that prolonging battery life is your priority. Here are some (purely anecdotal) tips that might help.
- Turn it off, put it away. (Did I say these were useful tips?)
- Turn down the screen brightness to as low as you can bear- I hear 0% is brilliant for boosting battery life.
- Similarly, turn down the time the back-light is on to the lowest setting.
- Don't play the games, watch photos or browse through album art. These are more intensive and thus probably use the battery juice faster.
- Plug it in. This is a fantastic way to boost battery juice.
Now, I know that I have specifically dealt with the Apple Ipod in this article, but I am sure that many of these tips will apply to those MP3 players sold by other Manufacturers also.
This is humour, in case you haven't picked it up yet...
Apple and Macs · Faith, Religion and Belief · Randomness · Tech • 2 Comments
March 16, 2008
Posted 15 hours, 13 minutes ago on March 16, 2008 by titanium
formerly take your bookmarks with you!
You may be upgrading your computer, not have the luxury of traveling with a laptop, or simply want a back up of your (firefox) bookmarks. If so, this tutorial is for you.
Ingredients
- Firefox
If you have another browser, there should be a tool to import your bookmarks into firefox. This is a bit of a round-a-bout option, and beyond the scope of this article. Google around and you should find something helpful and/or useful.
- A Google account, so you can use Google Bookmarks
If you have an existing account (ie, you already use another Google product like gmail), just go to the bookmarks page and sign in if you need to, if you don't have an account you can create one via a link on that page.
- GBookmarks a firefox extension/addon.
Action
Once you have your bookmarks in firefox, and your Google Account set up, download GBookmarks and follow the instructions to install it. Don't be overwhelmed- installing addons for firefox is very easy. You will have to restart firefox (close and open the program again.)
Now in your menu bar, you should see a new menu for GBookmarks. Under that menu, choose the Options option. Put in your user name and password for your Google Account. Click the button directly underneath this that says: Import Firefox Bookmarks. You can set up a folder (say, "Firefox Bookmarks" if you wish to) then it's on to the uploading. If you have many bookmarks, this might be a good time to go and make a cup of tea, take the dog for a walk etc, as you can't use firefox to surf the net as the bookmarks are uploaded. Once you return from whatever real-life activity you chose, sign in to/navigate to Google bookmarks to check everything worked.
Hooray, you can now access your bookmarks from anywhere you can log in to your Google account from.
Optional but Recommended
For the day to day web-surfing, I'm partial to GMarks for organising, saving and using my bookmarks. While GBookmarks makes uploading to Google Bookmarks as easy as falling over, GMarks works better when it comes to the every day stuff. It is for using your existing Google bookmarks in firefox, not for putting your firefox bookmarks in Google. For instance, once you get your new computer, install GMarks and Firefox to get your bookmarks from Google. It is handy because it can add bookmarks for both Firefox and Google, or just one. All you have to do is to remember to use GMarks instead of regular Bookmarks when you're doing your bookmarking.
As always, comments very welcome.
Firefox · Education · Tech • 1 Comments
March 5, 2008
Posted 2 months, 4 days ago on March 5, 2008 by titanium
I'm teaching elementary/primary school Computer class, and as such, have decided to explain binary to the kids. The way to make something click with kids is this: to link it to something they already know, and to make it visual, or even better, active.
Something they know
I start by writing the word "word" on the board. What is it? It's a word. What's it made of? Letters. Which letters? w, o, r and d. So, we know that all words are made up of letters. Can you tell me what the basic numbers are? I'll give you a hint: there are ten. I'll give you another hint- here's one. (write the number/numeral '1' on the board.) They should get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 no problems, and a little hint for 0. I explain that all our written numbers are made up of these. (Example, 14, 10, 999, etc.)
Here's the exciting bit (no pun!): you ask them how many numerals a computer uses. Erase all the numbers on the board leaving just the 0 and the 1. I tell them that computers can't think like we do, and only think in terms of "on" and "off". I like to do some light switching for this.
You know that the number 162 is made up of one hundred, six tens and two ones. (Note, if they haven't gotten this down in decimal, it's probably not the time to start them on binary.) We sometimes call them "places" the hundreds place, the tens place and the ones place. We know that the ones place can fit numbers all the way up to 9 before we have to move over into the tens place. Well, for a computer, it starts counting: "0, 1" (act a little exasperated that you're out of space and take a step to the side) "1". Because it runs out of space so fast, it doesn't have ones, tens, hundreds and so on places, it has a ones place, a twos place, a fours place, an eights place and so on.
![[stick figures standing (represents 1) and squatting (represents 0)]](peopleBinary.jpg)
Making it Visual and Active
Ask for/pick a volunteer. Explain that standing up is "one" and squatting down is for "zero". Ask them to show everyone 1 and 0. Now, ask for another volunteer. They are going to stand to the right of the person in the ones place, this new person is going to represent the twos place. Ask the first person to squat, and the new person to stand up- showing every one 2. Now, ask them how they will show 1, 0, and go for 2 again. This is where it gets exciting- ask them for 3. 2 + 1 = 3. (Just like one ten plus one six make sixteen.) Ask them how they will make four. That's right, we need another volunteer! Run them through all the possible numbers, 0-7. It helps to go systematically through them all (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7) then do some random ones for a challenge (4! 7! 3! etc). Remind them that 4+1 is 5, 4+2 is 6, 4+2+1 is 7.
So, we got to seven, and we can't make any more because there is only room for a one or a zero in each place. So, I need another volunteer. How are we going to make 8? Ask the kids who needs to stand up and who needs to sit down (the ones not involved in the demonstration) to make the numbers 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.
You may like to have sheets of paper with 1, 2, 4, 8 on them so the kids can very clearly indicate what "place" they are in.
This is usually a good point to get the kids to sit down. Four digits works well as they have four fingers on one hand. They can work out how to make the numbers up to 15- go through them all together. I like to have them use their pinky fingers for one, as that means the backs of their hands are turned towards themselves and there is a reduction in giggling when they use their middle fingers.
So there you go, how to teach kids binary using the people method.
If the kids are older, I like to throw in something about the different bases- we use base ten because we have ten fingers (and thumbs) and possibly one of my favourite quotes: "Don't Panic, base 8 is just like base 10 really, if you're missing two fingers!" (Tom Lehrer). Before we get down to the binary stuff.
Teachers, Parents, etc, feel free to use this method to teach your kids binary. I ask that if you put it in a curriculum that you contact me and let me know what school and where in the world you are- for my own fun. Of course if someone wants to pay you for it/put in a textbook/etc, I'd like a bit more than verbal recognition. (Cheques are good, wink wink.)
Education · Tech • 4 Comments
February 21, 2008
Posted 2 months, 3 days ago on February 21, 2008 by titanium
I was casually surfing the 'net recently, and when I swung by apple.com I saw the new PINK ipod nano (shudder). Now, pink isn't exactly my favouritist colour, but I had a look at the product photos.
I noticed then that all the ipod nanos, except for the black one, all had white control wheels.
![[the new pink ipod nano]](http://www.creativehedgehog.com/pinkipod.jpg)
![[the black nano]](http://www.creativehedgehog.com/blacknano.jpg)
![[black and white converse all star shoe]](http://www.creativehedgehog.com/converseshoe.jpg)
This got me thinking. If the black ipod nano had a white scroll wheel, it would look like the fashionable converse all-star shoe. The rubber shoes were first sold as winter shoes, then were as a sports shoe, with the backing of Chuck Taylor, a basketball player. (source: [wikipedia].) These days, you don't see these shoes with the striking white sole and toe cap in sports much any more, but rather as fashionable footwear, as they also where in the 1960's. They come in many colours; red, neon green and bright blue are my favourites, but the 'staple' converse all star shoe is black and white.
Why not have an ipod that matches your oh-so groovy shoes? I decided to use my decidedly dodgy skills to photoshop up a black and white ipod nano. (Except I don't have photoshop, but used seashore, a cocoa adaptation of the GIMP for use on Macs.) Ladies and Gentlemen: I present the converse nano!
![[edited image of an ipod nano- black with white scroll wheel.]](http://www.creativehedgehog.com/blackwhitenano.jpg)
What do you think? Maybe apple are in fact more fashionable with their all-black nano instead of following the fickle fashion trends. Or, since the first ipod was all white, did they make the all black ipod to complement it? As always, comments very welcome.
Image credits to apple.com, bodypunks.com, plus my own "photoshopping"
Apple and Macs · Randomness · Tech • 2 Comments